


The Art of Survival

by wolfpawn



Category: British Actor RPF, High-Rise (2015), High-Rise (2015) RPF
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Animal Death, Cannibalism, Chaos, Death, Dystopia, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Incomplete, Mental Breakdown, No respect for the word "no", Past Character Death, Possessiveness, Psychological Trauma, Survival, references to cannibalism, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2019-07-16 03:51:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16077806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfpawn/pseuds/wolfpawn
Summary: It has been six months since madness descended on the High-Rise and the rest of London also, if not all of Britain. Robert Laing is one of only 8 men still alive in the High-Rise, the women reign supreme, as food become more and more scarce and the need to study his fellow residents as patients grows to almost an obsession, Robert sees that animal instinct is not as dormant in homo sapiens as he thought, we are not as removed from animals as we as a species think ourselves to be and when resources are few and far between, he learns that some are natural survivors, some are providers and some are leeches. Can he distinguish between them and see how it is best to survive, if only to complete his work?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> "There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed." - Mahatma Gandhi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robert Laing continues life in the New World after the fall of society. He is good at self-preservation, observing situations from afar, including a curious woman.

Laing sat looking over the cityscape. It has been almost six months since bedlam had fallen over the High-Rise. In that time, he learnt it was not just their building that had suffered madness, it had spread over the city like a fog of chaos. Sirens rang constantly, almost like a theme song over the city, but no form of authority from emergency service had even attempted to come to bear the towering building in over ten weeks. Rubbish littered the ground surrounding the vast building and even the corpse of a man was strewn there, George Ambrose, he had been from the eighth floor, a notorious sex pest even before society fell into chaos, he suspected the women had lured him to his demise. 

The women, in the initial period after everything went to hell, suffered horrifically, the men had held the power, using brute force and sex to deal with "lesser" men and women respectively. But while the men went into factions and fought among themselves, the women banded together, they made the Penthouse and the thirty-ninth door of the building their domain and a home for any woman in the building who wanted such a life and for all the children of the building, setting up a fully functional home and school for them, and woe betide anyone who attempted to create an issue there. Any woman who acted in a manner that was deemed uncouth and unacceptable was cast out, sometimes for a few days to teach them a lesson, and in a few instances, as it was with Charlotte's case, permanently. For men, however, death was the usual end result, though often, such an end was neither swift or clean. 

He had been there a few times, be it for a child with a fever or other such things. If they needed him, the women found a way (often via Toby) of calling on him. They paid in food so he was always willing, but Robert remained courteous, inoffensive and respectful, meaning the women never felt threatened by him and never made him feel as though he was at immediate risk, though the threat was ever present, women stood to the sides, weapons of different sorts in their hands, watching him, but as he ensured he could never be perceived as a threat, mutual respect was maintained. The women seemed able to structure a system of order without the presence of men. He documented it after every visit, seeing more and more of how the women ran their domain. He found it a fascinating study in psychology.

Charlotte had been welcomed into their fold at first, but she was soon cast out. All the women did their share in the penthouse community but Charlotte was never one to do her share and thought her M.O. would continue there, her being the social centre point around which others worked and get her share of the food but even Ann Royal, the wife of the now deceased architect and engineer did her share, she was a watcher of the children, so Charlotte's sloth was confronted quite swiftly and she found herself wandering the hallways until she found her way back to him. Toby often found his way to the penthouse, if only for food and was welcomed warmly by the women who often attempted to convince him to stay. 

That was part of the intrigue of the penthouse to Laing, food, though not abundant, was more readily available than he would have thought possible, especially after a few months of the new manner of life they found themselves in. It was just not plausible for there to still be food there, yet there was, he had seen himself, he had eaten it. The meat he was paid it was some form of bird, he suspected it was a pigeon or even gull but he did not care, all he cared about was it was food. 

Laing continued to look over the city as the day came to a close and dusk darkened the world. The sound of rummaging in the bags of trash below catching his attention as he did so. He ignored it at first, but as the second bout of noises and then a yowl of pain came to his attention, he rose to his feet and made his way towards the edge of the balcony, peering down. He watched curiously as someone in a hooded coat rushed back towards the building with a long stick in their hand, and on the end of it, a now deceased cat. The figure paused for a moment and seemed to realise they were being watched. They looked around before finally looking upward, their eye catching Laing's. 

He knew her to see, he was certain she was from one of the lower floors, her chocolate brown eyes were mesmerising and her freckled nose, though he knew many found such features unattractive, he found intriguing when they used to stand in the elevator in the mornings. He recalled her suit, high street, yet nice, as she held the door for him one day, smiling brightly as she did. He had been grateful for that. She had been jovial and polite, he found her intriguing, but he had yet to see her again, she was one he thought of all women would seek refuge in the colony that had formed on the upper floors, but she seemed to be fairing well alone, better than him, who had not seen a morsel in a day and found himself hoping the women required his services again, if only to get some food.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robert thinks about the woman he saw outside before whatever powers that be allow him a chance to earn food, while Toby speaks of an imaginary being

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fianna is pronounced Fee-ina

It irked Laing, trying to recall the woman's name, or recall if he had ever heard it, to begin with. She had never really been at any of the parties, he had only seen her leaving for work or in the grocery store, never anywhere else. For the following few days, he tried to find her again, but to no avail.

*  
After a long day, trying and failing to acquire food, he sighed. Turning around, he jumped slightly when he saw Toby standing nearby. 'What are you doing here, it's not safe.' He chastised.

'I was hungry.' For a child of such incredible intelligence, he was still just a child, Robert sighed again as he recalled such. 'I know, we are all hungry.'

'Fianna will be here soon.'

Robert frowned. 'What's a Fianna?'

'Not a what, a who. Fianna is a woman, from the thirteenth floor.'

'Toby, no one, much less a woman would survive down there now.' Robert declared, having been down there not too long ago and accidentally into the domain of one of the only other men left in the building, Charles Moford, which left Robert with a nasty cut in need of cleaning twice daily still. The aggressive Mr Moford had somehow acquired some weaponry in his time alone there and was not disinclined to use it, though Robert was certain he had been a chef before everything. The idea of a woman even being there was utterly preposterous. 

'Fianna does it.' Toby stated factually. 'Fianna goes everywhere.'

Thinking Toby to be simply rambling in his own version of madness, Robert said nothing more of the mythical Fianna and thought instead of the very real issue of hunger. 'Come on, back we go.'

'The women want you. One of the children had a cut.'

Thomas did not even pretend to be saddened at the news of some poor child being injured, an injury meant food, so bringing Toby back to the apartment, he got his medical kit, something he had acquired and kept hidden from everyone, especially Charlotte, who was prone to thieving something when possible and headed for the stairs, armed with his crowbar, never sure of what could be waiting in the stairwells. He made his way slowly, over the rubble and refuge towards the upper floors. When he got to where he was going, he knew what would be waiting. Sure enough, the women that defending the stairs had their weapons drawn as he approached. He put his crowbar where he always left it on his trips to the women and walked in. 'Where is the child?'

It did not take long to deal with the child and as usual, his reward waiting for him on the completion of his task. He wolfed it in no time. When they saw fit to give him some seconds, he went to eat that also before pausing, thinking of Toby and putting down the spoon in the food, thanking them and heading for the door, bringing the food with him.

One of the women, the one that he knew used to work in the supermarket, grabbed his arm. 'Who is that for?' 

'Toby, he's hungry.' Robert explained. 

She studied him for a moment. 'As long as it's not for her.' She gave a small nod and another of the women came forward and added a little more to it. 

'She doesn't earn her food, well, not in a manner befitting civilised society.' The one giving the additional food commented. 

Robert said nothing beyond his thanks and left, grabbing the crowbar on his way and making his way back to his floor, taking care of the food in his hand as he did. 

When he arrived at the floor, he unlocked his door and walked in. 'Toby?' he went to the room Tony commandeered and knocked in the door. 'Toby?' A moment later, the boy came out. 'I got you some food.' 

With a grateful smile, Toby went to eat it. 'What about me?' Charlotte asked, coming into view a cigarette in her hand. 

'Toby needs to be cared for.' Laing insisted, wondering where she got such a commodity. 'Eat it up.' He encouraged. Toby did not need to be told twice and did as requested. 'Where do you go off to?' he turned to look at Charlotte. 'It's not safe.'

'I go in search of food.' Charlotte giggled before turning and going through the apartment, not caring any further.

Robert merely looked at her before walking to the balcony, throwing rubbish off it to the ground below. Soon after Toby came out to him with his empty carton. 'I have some pigeon if you want some?' The boy offered.

'And where did you get it?' Robert asked worriedly. 

'Fianna.'

'Toby...' Robert worried about Toby's comments. 'Why don't you stay in the penthouse?'

'I'm not like the others.'

'You need food and care.'

'But you and Fianna take care of me.'

Robert found it fascinating that a make-believe entity seemingly gave Toby more care and he named it before his mother, or else he thought the mythical Fianna was his mother in another form. At that moment, he could not bring himself to care and put on the music before crashing to the ground to rest. 

* 

Below them, several balconies below, the girl he had been searching for paused in her foraging for a few moments to listen intently to the music, having missed the sound. Sitting against a wall, she imagined a time so distant a memory in that moment.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robert goes in search of food but if found by two men who see only one option for competition, lucky for him he has someone to even the odds, even if he did not know it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so in this chapter, we will be referencing the pure evil that is Margaret Thatcher, who features for a moment at the end of the film and a quote she makes regarding that there cannot be political freedom under capitalism, scary insight there from the bitch. 
> 
> Every Irish person hated the old hag and any working class Brit worth their salt hated her even more. High rise takes place in the '70s so the old hag was still establishing herself as PM.

Laing cursed his luck. The thirtieth floor, previously the gym floor, was seldom occupied. The women stayed high above with their safe numbers and the men rarely came that far up as they were terrified of meeting a gang of the women. But in front of him stood two men, one of whom he had never seen before, both blocking the exit. The other man he knew to be called Hargrave, he had been an accountant before everything, divorced, Charlotte had said, for fucking an intern rather than being a good husband to his pregnant wife. 'Gentlemen.' he stated calmly, hoping to defuse the situation.

'What have you there, Laing?' Hargrave demanded. 

Robert groaned. His first find in two days, a tin of beans in his hand. 'No.'

'That's food. Give it here.'

'No, it's mine.' he held it closer. 

'The dead don't need food.' The unknown man growled walking to one side, Hargrave going to the other. Robert in the middle, his crowbar in hand able to do nothing to stop the double attack. 

'Give it over, Laing, and we'll make this quick.' Hargrave bargained. 'Don't make this harder on yourself. Clegg lasted three days, it's a lot easier to make it quick.' 

Well, that was one less man to fight for food against, Robert noted to himself, but he knew that that was their plan, eradicate the competition, limited resources meant fighting ferociously for whatever ones there were. He would be one less competitor too. 'I can't.'

'If you're worried about Melville, we can look after her. We'll give her a right seeing to, won't we, Matthews.'

'Oh, the tart, yeah, I'll give her a great seeing to alright. Finally get a go at that lovely cunt. Pity it's stretched from the bastard.'

Robert's rage grew at their words, making him lunge forward, and earning him a scoffing laugh before being struck over the head with a baseball bat the man called Matthews had. Robert grunted as he hit the floor, his vision blurring. 

'Hard way it is then.' Hargrave chuckled taking his can and crowbar, swinging it around for a moment. 'I like this.'

'No.' Robert gasped. 

'You don't get to say no, Sunshine.'

'Enough.' 

The sound of another joining them startled Robert, people avoided one another outside of the women's colony upstairs. 

'Fuck off.' Matthews snapped. 'Or better yet, I'll fuck you.'

'Call your bitch into line, Hargrave, or you'll get no more cigarettes from me.' There was incoherent mumbling for a moment before Robert heard the men step back. 'Leave Laing alone and I will have some cigarettes and a shoulder of whiskey to you.'

'When?' he demanded. 

'When I fucking get them to you.'

'No chance.'

'Then I'll tell the women it was you that hurt Ann Royal last time she came out.'

'I didn't fucking touch her.' He bellowed with fear and anger. 

'I may know that, you may know that, but they don't know that and she can't remember, and who do you think they will believe, you or me, can you take the chance?'

'You sneaky lying bitch.'

'It's a dog eat dog world now, Hargrave. You want me as an acquaintance more than you want me as an enemy, I can assure you. Three men chose the latter and two rot by the pool and one rots on the pavement outside so take your pick. A nice shoulder of whiskey, or the same as them, the former and we part ways once more, happy to do business again in the future?'

'Fine, I'm keeping the beans.'

'They'll cost you three cigarettes.'

'Three, you thieving...I got them fairly.'

'You stole them from Laing when your friend here incapacitated him, you got them unjustly. Give them back or lose three cigarettes.'

Hargrave mumbled again but threw down the beans. 'I want them soon.'

'By the end of the week.'

'You better keep your word, Fianna.'

'I always do.'

'If you don't, come the next time I see you I will fuck you raw then fuck you off the side of the building.' he declared before leaving. 

When the men went through the second set of doors to the stairwell, Robert felt a hand on him and tried to bat it away. 

'Lie still.' She ordered. 'You have a nasty cut on your forehead.' she touched it gently and he hissed. 'And a concussion, more than likely.'

'What are you, a nurse?'

'Vet assistant actually. Or I was anyway.' she smiled as she gently helped him up.

'Robert.' To be honest, Laing was unsure why he introduced himself, she knew his name already when she ordered the men leave him go.

'Fianna.' 

'So, you are real?'

'Yes I am, what made you think I wasn't?' She laughed. 

'I thought Toby had gone mad.'

'I fear Toby is the only sane person on this whole building.' She commented. 

'Do you include yourself in that?'

'I came in here to help you, didn't I? And I cost me a hell of a bargaining chip. I know I am no longer fully sane.'

'I'm sorry.'

'It's fine. We need you alive, you're the only useful man left here really.'

'Did you really kill those men?'

'One of them, he went to rape me so I cut off his cock. Never realised there was such a blood supply to the thing.' She shrugged. 'The others I strategically had chased me right into the wolves' lair.'

'Wolves' lair?' 

'That's what I call upstairs. Wolves care for their young together. The pack tends to the cubs as a unit, feeding them, teaching them, killing to defend them. It seemed an apt name.'

'Except all wolfpacks have a lead male.'

'Usually yes, but no man would survive that pack, they tolerate you but only because they must. If they could do without you, they would. Men are nothing but brutes and thugs and most every woman there knows it. Helen, Wilders wife, she was raped when she was pregnant, that is the depth of their depravity. So naturally, the women want men banished from their home. The boys will be raised to be better than those before, who knows what the future will bring them.'

Robert listened as she cleaned his wound and patched it up as best she could. 'And what of you, why were you thrown out.'

'I never joined to be thrown out. I come and go as I please, the same as Toby.' She explained offering him her hand to help him to his feet. When he stumbled slightly, she put herself under his arm. 'I get them some food and I go in search of more.'

'You are their provider?' 

'Yes. I found seeds, they are using the earth up there in the gardens to grow food and I hunt the meat, cats dogs, gulls, pigeons when I can find them, the rats are more plentiful though. No eating in a mouse mind.'

'And you feed Toby?'

'Of course, I know he is different, but he's still a child.'

'Thank you.' She looked at Laing. 'But I fear your generosity may get you killed or worse.'

'I can hold my own.' She smiled. 'You are in no fit state to go anywhere. The manager's office is hidden in the back, very secure, it's the safest place for you until you recover.'

'I'm fine.'

'And I'm Margaret Thatcher.' She scoffed. 

Robert could not help but chuckle. 'If I may ask, what sort of name is Fianna, I never heard it before?'

'It's Irish.'

'I see, and you are what exactly...only your accent is not...'

'I am half and half, my father was in the army, went to Ireland to do something about the situation there, lasted all of a day apparently before meeting my mother, smitten with her, asked for a transfer away from there, ended up in Cornwall, got her to follow him over and had me.'

'That's pleasant.' 

'He was sent off last year to sort things off foreign and died there.'

'I'm so sorry.'

'Unless you voted for Thatcher, you don't owe me an apology.'

'I didn't vote for anyone if I am honest.'

'Foolish, but not as dangerous as her lot of mindless idiot followers. Many say she caused this and going by an interview not long before it all descended into chaos, I can see the logic behind people's thinking so.' She prattled on as she picked the lock to the office and helped him in. 'Please don't eat everything, my larder is required for a time to come.'

Robert stared at the tins of food and the bottles of water and wine. There was enough to feed one person  
for almost two months. 'How?'

'While Rome crumbled, I scoured the wreckage.' She explained. 'I use this to barter to allow me between floors to hunt for food and to feed the children.' 

'And the alcohol?'

'Well, I hear people complain about raising a kid or two of their own and needing wine, there are twenty-odd kids up there, those women need something.' Robert chuckled before looking at a bottle. 'If I give you that, will you leave the others alone?' She bargained as she went out the door again. Robert watched curiously as to where she had gone, she returned soon after, a dog in tow. She said nothing as she locked the door to keep them safe. 

'Considering half an hour ago I was about to be killed, now I am safe and still have my beans, I think that's a good offer for me.' He took off the top and gulped several mouthfuls. 

'You probably should eat first.' She warned. 

'Fuck it.' He commented before drinking a few more gulps. 'What are you doing with the dog, it's somewhat scrawny for eating.'

Fianna looked at the greyhound beside her. 'His name is Dog and if you dare try and eat him, he'll be eating you.' She threatened. 'Greyhounds are fast. I need him to catch cats, rats and smaller dogs that are far faster than me.'

He studied her as she pulled off her jacket. 'My tie?' She looked at him curiously. 'In your hair, that's my tie.'

'I found it on a balcony.'

'I cast it off mine.'

'The wind must have blown it back into that one so.' She took it off and her hair fell loose before handing it to him.

'Keep it.' He smirked as the alcohol began to flood his system looking at his company with interest. 'What does it mean, anyway?'

'What?'

'Fianna, most Irish names have some origin, what's yours?'

'All names have origins.' Fianna pointed out.

'You are different to others.' Robert commented.

'Yes, that's how I survive.'

'So what does it mean? I am not going to let this drop.'

'Fianna comes from Irish mythology. There was this man Finn MacCool and he was incredibly wise, he ate the salmon of knowledge and knew all life's secrets and he had a band of warriors called the Fianna, so Fianna means warrior.'

'Is it your actual name?' She nodded. Robert just laughed and drank more wine. 'Well, that is fucking apt.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, that's the origin of Fianna and yes, it is used as a girl's name and most importantly, yes, it's fabulous :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next day and Fianna and Robert have some company

Robert woke to a sore head and a stiff back, but to his surprise, he woke up warm. Opening one eye, he realised the woman was curled in against him, her coat over them and the dog laying at their feet. Rubbing his eyes, he regretted not heeding Fianna's advice and eating before drinking, but at the same time, letting loose on a bottle of wine filled him with liberating relief. Dragging him back to the realms of normality, as a few drinks were something that he had sorely missed.

Looking around, he focused on the alcohol and food she had stored. In truth, part of him really considered taking some or tying her up and taking everything but the logical part, which was only a minority voice, if he was honest, was reminding him of how she had assisted him the night previous. She had saved his life, in the old way of the world, he owed her. She had said to the men it was "Dog eat dog", the heartless side of him stated in his subconscious but what rationale did still exist in his mind argued that the food, though plenty, for the time being, would not last forever and she was a useful ally, she could hunt and fend for herself, meaning there was more possibility for food, so he subdued the more aggressive side and merely availed of the warmth she provided a few moments longer. 

When Dog's ears perked and he looked towards the door, Laing swallowed anxiously. A moment later, Fianna was upright, a hunting blade in her hand that he did not know she had previously, the grip tight. He looked at her in concern, both at trying to ask her almost telepathically who she suspected it to be and at the realisation that she had had that in her hand all night, clearly not trusting him fully. 

When Dog's tail wagged slightly, Fianna became some bit calmer, her demeanour changing slightly. When there were three knocks, a pause, then three more, she walked to the door. She knocked twice, then there was a response of three knocks. Immediately, she opened the door. 

'What are you doing here?' She scolded. 

'Robert didn't return.' A moment later, Fianna ushered Toby inside. On seeing Laing lying down and his crudely bandaged head, Toby's eyes widened. 'What happened?'

'Hargrave hit him with a baseball bat.' Fianna explained. 'We need to keep him here today to make sure it's not worse than it looks.' She grabbed the dog's lead. 'I have some supplies in a safe place, you stay here, lock the door after me and I'll go get it.'

'Can I eat some food?' Toby asked. 

Fianna looked beside her and chose a can of tinned fruit for him. He groaned but said nothing. 'I won't be long.' With that, she left.

Immediately, Toby closed the door and locked it. He sat down and said nothing as he opened his food and ate slowly. 

Robert had several questions for Toby regarding his friendship with the odd woman, but with his head hurting and feeling dizzy, he just turned slightly and went back to sleep. 

When he woke again, Fianna had returned and was holding a bag. 

'How are you feeling?' She asked as she helped to sit him up before moving the makeshift bandage she had placed there the night before. She winced at the wound underneath. 'Two stitches, I'd say.' She commented. 

'Do you know how?' 

'Yes.' She pulled up her sleeve and revealed a nasty lengthy scar that was red but healing well on her forearm. 

Studilying her work, Laing was quite impressed. 'Who assisted you?'

'No one.'

'You did that one-handed?

'I was not exactly flushed with options.'

'What happened?'

'I fell through a ceiling. I grabbed a broken beam but it cut my arm. Better than a shattered ankle anyway.' She smiled. 'Hold still and we'll get this started. 'Toby, sit back please.'

'But I want to see.' The boy moaned, eating a box of stale and soft cereal.

'I didn't say you could not watch, I said get back, you'll contaminate my instruments.'

'How are you sterilising them?' Laing asked.

Fianna pulled out a container containing several medical instruments floating in a liquid and put on some gloves. 'Chloroxylenol, it's amazing what you can find if you look hard enough.' She took out what she needed including an iodine solution to clean Laing's forehead. It stung but he did little more than wince. It was slow, but she did the stitches carefully. It was clear the mark would be minimal. 'There, you won't be brutally scarred and will look as handsome as you always do.' She smiled as she handed him a pocket mirror to show him her end result.

Robert, who had been curious as to her work looked at her shocked at her comment, looking at her face to see if she was being sarcastic or did she think such things of him. 

She simply smiled and turned and handed him a drink. 'You need to drink this, this will help you recover.' 

Still startled by her comment, he silently took the solution and continued to just stare at her. 

'You should say "thank you".' Toby stated as he sat down, the dog lying next to him. 

'Yes, of course, where are my manners?' Laing chastised. 

'Back in six months ago, along with everyone else's.' Fianna joked. 'It's odd speaking with another adult after so long. Usually, I only speak to Toby, or Dog.'

'Dog can't talk.' Toby scoffed.

'Toby, children can't design radios and scurry around in a building filled with rubbish, deluge and bodies as well as the people who killed said bodies, so shhh.' Fianna retorted. 

'The dog still can't talk.' Toby reiterated. 

'Go sleep or something Toby.' She groaned. 

Toby did as instructed, not out of being compliant but because he had not slept the night before. 

'He is different.' Robert commented when he knew Toby was asleep. 

'He is an incredible boy.' Fianna smiled. 'You cannot help but care for him, everything considered.'

'What does that mean?' 

'Well, his mother is Charlotte and her concern for him is minimal...' 

'You have no idea what you are talking about ' Laing snarled. 

'Where is she then? Why is it you and I are his providers?' She challenged. 'Why is he looking for you and coming to me for comfort because he could not find you? Why not her?'

Laing's jaw clenched but his face became concerned again when he saw her tidy everything away and call the dog to her side again. 'Where...?'

'I need to get some hunting done.' She explained, her tone clipped. 

'But...'

'You are a big boy, I am sure you don't need me to look after you.' She commented boredly. 'And seemingly, it will not end well, us being stuck here together.'

Insulted, he watched as she scanned her supplies and took a few pieces. 'Please...' She looked at him. 'If we don't discuss certain things, there will be no issue.'

'I don't censor myself, least of all to people I don't actually know.' She stated. 

Laing gave a small smirk. 'That may actually be interesting.'

Fianna folded her arms and scoffed. 'You would regret it, I can assure you.' 

Laing licked his now yellowed teeth. 'Prove yourself right, so.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chloroxylenol is just the chemical name for Dettol.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nearly a month after the incident with Hargrave and Robert finally sees Fianna again.

Robert groaned as he stretched, feeling muscles and bones eek and creak as a result of lack of good diet, sleep and proper exercise. It had been almost a month since the incident with Hargrove and his subsequent meeting Fianna. 

His forehead had healed with only a slight scar, which impressed him a lot and there had been no incidents similar to it since. 

He was after scouring the building for food and came up with nothing substantial yet again, which was a common occurrence these days. Was it not for the daily parcels left for him on his balcony or brought to him by Toby, he knew that he would have starved long before. Every day there was something there, no matter how small. He found himself unable to cease thinking of Fianna as a result. 

He walked onto his balcony and looked over the view of the other high rises and the city beyond. ‘An interesting view.’

‘Yes, it is.’ He turned around to the voice in the next balcony. ‘Dr Laing, long time, no see.’ Fianna smiled.

‘I….How did you get there?’

‘The door to this apartment is no longer able to lock.’ She explained nonchalantly. 

Robert found himself chuckling. ‘Not that that would stop someone like you, of course.’

‘Of course.’ She smiled. ‘I come bearing goodies.’ She had a sort of satchel with her and a heavy bag in her hand. 

‘Good etiquette dictates I invite you in.’ 

Fianna smirked at him. ‘Does it, now?’

‘Come around, I will open the door.’

Fianna, curious and in want of some company, walked through the derelict apartment and to the door of Robert’s home. She looked around the hallway with some anxiety, when Laing opened the door, she looked at him with a face that caused him to pause and stare at her for a moment. 

‘Please, please come it. Please, make yourself comfortable.’ His voice was soft and inviting as he took her hand and guided her in while closing the door.

‘Dog?’

‘Of course, how silly on me.’ He opened the door again to let the scrawny animal in. ‘Excuse the mess.’ 

In times gone by, Fianna would have scoffed at the reference to his meticulously tidy home as messy but with the current world and with everyone in it being varying levels of mad, she was unsure if she was just blinded to mess by now or if he saw a mess that none other than he could see. 'Your parcel.’ She stated, looking around and holding out the heavy bag. 'There's at least two day’s eating in it.’

'Are you not coming tomorrow?’ Even though he never actually saw her in the past month, the idea that she would not be there the next day upset him. All that caused Laing to hold even a modicum of a hint of a grasp on reality at present was Fianna. He had ceased referencing himself in the third person as a result of meeting her. 

'I plan to but I came across a small hoard and I cannot carry it all at once so I brought as much as I could today.’ She explained. 'I have given the most of it to the Wolves’ Lair, but that is not to say that you and I cannot have a few extra tidbits, can it?’

'Who is dead?’ Laing asked, opening the bag and taking out the food including the forelimb of a small dog. 

'I was going through the floors after a successful hunt of two cats and a pigeon when I came across a most rancid odour. Upon investigation, I found a Jack Russell terrier knawing on the face of Hargrave. It was most adamant it would chew off his nose.’ She pointed to the forelimb. 'The other one was broken, I did the poor thing a favour.’ Boil the leg, you get the marrow out too. There are some bits in there to make a stew.’

'Thank you.’ Robert smiled. 'How big is the hoard?’

'Not overly. About a fortnight's worth, if you ration. But he's dead and we are hungry, so best not waste it.’

'What was the cause of death?’

'His buddy, the one of the day with you, he was there too. They seemed to have gotten into an argument and did each other in. A pack with no loyalty is not a pack that will survive.’ She commented. 

'Evidently not.’ Laing concurred. He looked at the contents of the bag again and when he looked back up Fianna had walked into the other room, looking around curiously. She looked at a stack of boxes that donned grey paint, as did some of the walls, before frowning and bending down to pull out a photograph from under said copies. 'She looks like you.’ Fianna commented. 

'She's my sister.’ 

'She is pretty.’ Fianna noted the tape at the back of the picture and placed it on the wall. 

'She died.’

'Haven't most people.’

Laing did not know how to respond so he watched as Fianna walked over to his notes. 'You seem to be running out of paper.’

'I am.’

'I can get you more?’

'Could you?’ She smiled and nodded. 'Please.’

'I will bring it with me tomorrow. So what is the…I see.’ She scanned the notes. 'Trying to make sense of this, Mr Laing?’

'Perhaps.’

'Do you think people tried to make sense of the Fall of Rome?’ Fianna pondered aloud. 'In the midst of the chaos, do you think, perhaps, that there were men and women watching as society fell apart and tried to make sense of it all? I do.’

'It is human nature to try and make sense of things, is it not?’ Robert questioned. 'I dare say they did.’

‘Do you think perhaps that is what is afoot here?’

'The disintegration of society?’ She nodded. 'I am not sure, it seems to be similar in ways I suppose.’ Laing studied Fianna as she spoke and walked around his home. He found himself obsessing with paying attention to minute details about her as he did so. 

'Thatcher blames socialism and communism.’ The pair looked through a hole in the ceiling to see Toby above them in his old bedroom. 'That they are inherently evil.’

 

'Toby, contrary to those who indoctrinate and are indoctrinated in capitalism believe, Socialism and communism, like capitalism, are merely political templates, they cannot be evil because they are not capable of being such, what is evil is when people alter them to fit a political agenda that is. What is evil about people being given equal, or people getting an honest day's pay for an honest day's work, or that everyone can have healthcare. Or even rewarding those who work hard with money for doing so? They are not evil, the people in fancy offices using those politics to make themselves wealthier, however, that is.’ Fianna argued. 'What else is the witch saying?’

‘That people should police themselves back to normality. That we need to sort ourselves.’

'Shocking, where is she?’

'America.’ 

'Of course she is.’ Fianna growled. 'The bitch.’ She turned and walked out to the balcony and began a fire. 'Do you have a pot?’ Laing retrieved one. She worked on the food for a time without saying anything. When it was simmering she turned to leave. 'I need to move the rest of the food before someone else gets it. And lay a few traps.’

'I can help.’ Laing offered. 

For a moment, Fianna contemplated saying no, but with a lot to do and limited time, she agreed. 'Toby, get down here and make sure dinner does not burn.’ She instructed. 

'Can Dog stay?’

'Sure.’ She shook her head and walked out, Laing in tow. 

'What sort of traps?’ He asked as they made their way to the stairwell. 

'Animal traps. They tend to feast on carcasses, so we trap them.’ She explained. 'We need to stop on twenty and grab a few.’

Laing did as ordered throughout the situation, asking as they went, Fianna taking time to teach him as they went. When they got to Hargrave’s apartment, the door was as Fianna has left it, the stench of rotten flesh still being emitted from within. She walked in warily, both checking to see if they were alone, upon ascertaining that they were, they let their guard down. He looked at the bodies of the two men and concurred with Fianna, they died from fighting one another. 'HA!’ He snapped into Hargrave's face. 'I win.’ 

Fianna said nothing and worked at getting the food she has not yet moved ready to leave. 

'He has loads of beans.’ Laing pointed to the stack of cans in front of him. 'Why was he taking mine?’ He walked over to Hargrave. 'You didn't need my beans.’ He shouted at the corpse. 

'Robert, stop arguing with him and get these beans out of here.’ Fianna ordered as she set her traps. 

Laing did as instructed and grabbed all the food he could carry. They stripped the room bare of everything of use. As the left, heavily ladened with their load, he turned to Hargrave one last time. 'Now I am stealing your beans.’ He chuckled maniacally as they left the room. 

They made their way slowly up the stairwell again, their bodies unhappy with the sheer weight they were forcing themselves to carry. They got to Laing's floor before meeting someone again. 

'Laing, having company I see.’ Came a nonchalant, almost polite voice, though there was a clear menace in it. 

'Steele.’ Robert gave as polite a smile as he could. 

'Mr Steele, how are you today?’ Fianna smiled. 'I have something for you.’ She rummaged through her satchel before pulling something out. 'You were looking for this, if I recall.’ 

Seeing the dental care products in her hands, Steele beamed. 'Excellent. Thank you.’ He took them and eyed their other bags. 

Laing gripped his tightly. 'Would you like some beans, Hargrave got done in so I took his.’ She handed several tins to Steele who said nothing else and walked off, elated with his new acquisitions. 

'You just gave them.’ Laing stated, appalled by her actions. 

'If I did not, he may not let me pass next time. I told you before, I bribe to get around. And you need to keep him on side, it's odd to see men share a floor, usually, you all just kill one another.’

'We are not some sort of animals.’

‘I know, animals have more decorum.’ she licked her teeth as she looked at him. 

As was the situation any time Laing took a moment to look at Fianna, his obsession with her grew. He was about to all but pounce on her when the door to his apartment opened and Charlotte came out. 

'There you are. Come on, I found wine.’ She chirped half drunkenly. 

Robert looked at her for a moment before looking back at Fianna, his mouth open slightly. 'I…’

Fianna walked forward, her eyes focused on Charlotte. 'Dog.’ She called into the apartment. 

'That thing would make a good dinner.’ Charlotte stated. 

'Hurt my dog and I will kill you, Bitch.’ Fianna snarled as Dog trotted out to her. She walked past Laing without another word and out to the stairwell. 

'She really needs to have a good shag.’ Charlotte laughed as Laing came to the door. 'Pity you can't help her there.’ Laing looked at her in confusion. ‘Rumour has it that she is not attracted to men. According to her old neighbour, in her year here, not once did she have a man come to the flat and she never stayed away outside of the nights she was working. It shows, I bet she's a virgin to boot.’ 

That was the last thing Laing needed to consider, his obsession for her intensifying. He thought of Fianna again and one word came to his mind. “Mine.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robert's obsession grows as Fianna is forced to deal with invaders leaving her in a comprised position.

Laing became obsessed to the point sleep eluded him. Such details like Fianna cutting off another man's genitalia for coming onto her without her interest meant nothing to him. He wanted her, she had to be his. In the world of those with the strongest arsenal survived, he had to have the fiercest hunter as his. The manner in which she provided for her pack was the best. She was a hunter and a carer and she would be his. Details such as Charlotte's comments regarding her not being interested in men did not even register with him fully. All he thought, was “mine”.

He did not see her again for a few days. He waited for her, he searched for her, but she seemed to elude him, either with intent or without it. He tried her little store piles, they were locked and secure, he tried her trap stores, all were empty, he tried any place he could think her to be and to no avail. He would have thought her dead were it not for the parcels still being left for him. After a few days, he ceased even trying to find food himself, he simply waited on his balcony for a parcel to arrive but she never seemed to leave it when he was there, it was the mere moment he went to get something that he would return and the parcel would be left. It irked him no end. 

He sought Toby and asked him where Fianna called home but Toby did not know, he only knew the few spots Laing was aware of. He had no idea where Fianna had set up home. Laing had sought her old apartment but it was ransacked like all others on the floor and it took him three hours to leave that floor when he realised why it was so. Two teenagers had taken residence there apparently, not originally of the building and were highly aggressive and destructive. He did not risk being seen and waited for them to go in search of food before leaving his hiding place. He calculated only six men left in the building and if there was one instinct that superseded his want for Fianna, it was his yearning for survival. If he had any real insight, he would have stated both were intrinsically linked at the stage. 

The notes he wrote ceased being about different people and all focused on her. Almost intimate details about something as mundane and unimportant as her freckles and their location on her nose and cheeks got their own section of writing and in his madness, Laing saw nothing wrong with it. 

*

One thing that caused him more torment than anything else was trying to figure out how she spelt her name. Not being an English name, he had no idea how it was done and the idea of his notes on her being inaccurate all but drove him to madness. 

When he got back to his apartment, he noticed his parcel had been delivered, as well as not one, but three notebooks, new and bound. He looked at the, elated with his new supply, beside them were a set of pens and pencils. He was still looking at them when he heard a shout from a lower floor. Worried, he looked over his balcony. Fear engulfed him as he saw Fianna darting for the high rise from the area outside, a kill in her hand. The two youths chasing her. She jumped the rubbish easily and ran to the foyer. Worried, Robert rushed for the stairwell. He could hear her running up the steps and the boys behind her. She looked up and saw Laing. 'Run.’ She yelled. A moment later, she pulled back in to keep running before a shot rang out and Laing pulled back in too. She got to the twenty-fifth floor and to him. 'Get to your apartment, lock the door.’ She ordered. 

Laing looked at her. Her face was bruised, her eyebrow was cut open and her lip was split. She clearly had suffered injuries. 'Come with me.’

'No, they'll find us. I need to get rid of them. I need to lead them to The Lair.’ She handed him one of the pigeons in her hand and urged him to leave. 

Laing knew what that spelt for the youths, their aggressive nature would sign their death warrants. He nodded and rushed back into the hallway to his apartment, Fianna rushed on, the youths had made gains in her stopping to talk but they were unhealthy, so they were exhausted but their focus on her meant that they would follow. 

'Come on, you little shits.’ She snapped as she ran on. 

'I am going to shove my gun in you then pull the trigger.’ The more authoritative one shouted.

Fianna just kept running up the steps. By the time she came to the thirty-ninth floor, she came to the barricade but it was unmanned. She jumped it and into the hallway behind it. Exhausted, she collapsed and crawled along the floor gasping for breath. She knew what would happen, so when she was halfway down it, she just lay back and allowed her body to try and recover, her remaining kills still in her hand. 

The boys jumped the barrier and looked at her laughing. 'I am going to make you pay for that.’ The older gasped for breath. ‘Starting with…’ his words died in his mouth as the women of the building came from the doorways around them, weapons drawn. The boys went to back up but behind them were more women, armed with knives and guns. 

'You picked the wrong tower.’ Fianna chuckled. 

Seeing the state of Fianna, the women did not even wait to see if the teenagers had done it, Helen Wilder and Jane Sheridan pointed two guns at the one holding a gun and shot him three times in the body causing him to fall to the floor dead before the other women stabbed the other young man to death. Fianna simply allowed herself to rest, not overly bothered that she had led two youths to their deaths. 

When the other women had finished mutilating the bodies, they dragged them on curtains to one of the apartment nearby. Wilder and Royal assisted Fianna to her feet, Ann's sister taking the two pigeons from Fianna as the other women assisted to her the penthouse. Toby was sent for. 

Laing watched from his balcony as the corpses fell to the ground below making a considerable mess as they did so. He was frantic to get to Fianna but knew it was too dangerous to head to the higher floors. The women would be on high alert after the invaders. 

'Robert!’ Toby's gulping breaths caused Laing to look up to Charlotte's balcony. 'Fianna...The Lair…Hurt.’

Laing did not wait for anything else, he grabbed his kit and rushed up the steps. On the thirty-ninth floor, brandishing their new weapons, the women manned their station once more. He had not brought his own weapon and with his hands up, Laing slowly made his way past. 'How many casualties?’ He asked the most senior woman at the barricade, she had been the wife of one of the wealthier men, with his death she flourished as a sort of general. 

'The invaders are gone but Fianna is injured.’ She informed him. 'She is of the utmost priority.’ They entered the penthouse and he noted the women all around a centre point, Fianna, who was clearly exhausted and trying to rest. The comfort they had her in, every soft material possible told him how much respect she had in the women which made sense, she had single-handedly allowed them to survive and thrive with her work. 

He rushed over and knelt down beside her. Her brow was drenched in sweat and her breathing still not back to normal. He checked her over, paying special attention to every last observation he did. 

He looked at her wounds, they were bruising dark but the cuts were not deep meaning that they would heal soon enough. What caused him concern was the mark to her temple beside her cut. He thought to himself and looked at her, Fianna looking at him curiously. 'It is nothing serious, you just need to rest but you know that.’ He smiled. 'I can stitch your eyebrow if you'd prefer but it should be fine.’

'I just want to go to bed for an hour or two.’ She groaned. 

'Very well.’ He rose to his feet, all too aware the women were studying him. 'If you feel nauseous let me know but I doubt you will.’ 

'Can I go back to my own place?’ She asked.

'If you would prefer.’

Fianna immediately made to get to her feet, she stumbled slightly but Laing caught her. 'My legs are tired.’ 

'Perfectly natural, all things considered.’ He smiled. 

'You should rest here.’ Royal stated, though the manner in which she did indicated she was only putting up the guise of a polite offer and thought it more of a demand. 

‘I would, believe me, and thank you for your incredible hospitality but I had to hide Dog to make sure those miscreants would not get him and I need to get him and check the traps before anyone else does and steals the children's food.’ She stated, steadying herself and gingerly making her way to the door. The women, though fearful of leaving their greatest provider go in her current state, feared the loss of food also and they knew the usefulness of the dog Fianna had kept alive so they let her go. 'Dr Laing, if you would be so good as to have Toby come back up here later, I will give him the contents of today's traps and perhaps even a treat for everyone after I collect Dog, as a thank you to you ladies and something for yourself as payment for your services.’ She smiled. Laing was uncertain of what to say but seeing as she seemed to expect him to leave before her, he nodded, collected up his bag and walked out, the women watching him leave. 'Let me know when he is out of sight.’ Fianna requested. The supermarket attendant nodded and did just that. 

It was painful for Fianna, making her way down the stairwell. She stopped on the gym floor, where she had hidden Dog before her checking her outside traps earlier. Exhausted she ensured she was alone as she retrieved him and the required rations and the alcohol for both Laing and the women. She locked her store and continued her travelling down the building. When she was passing the twenty-fifth floor she looked at it for a moment before pushing the door open. She made her way to Laing's apartment and knocked gently on the door. When he answered, the weakness and dizziness that Fianna had been feeling overrode her other senses and she fell forwards into his arms. 

Laing had not expected to see her so soon after everything. He knew he was being watched by the women as he left. He had contemplated waiting for her on a lower level but the women followed him to his floor, he planned on finding her soon, knowing she would not get too far, he was surprised she made it to his floor. He grabbed her as she fell in. 'I have you.’ 

'I…’ She leant in against him. 

'You have a concussion. It's alright, I have you now. I'll look after you.’ He patted her head as though he was soothing a child as he spoke. 'I have you, don't worry, Fianna, I will look after you.’ He brought her through the apartment and placed the bag she had to the side of his bed to protect it before placing her in the bed as gently as he could. He untied Dog who only curled up next to the bed on a soft rug Robert had stolen from a long abandoned apartment and got into the bed beside Fianna, urging her to lean into him, which she did in her weakened state. He kissed her forehead and continued to gently stroke her hair. 'My beautiful Fianna. Mine.’ He stated as he did so. 

In her dazed state, Fianna had little idea of what he was saying. She felt incredibly dizzy and her head ached terribly. The warmth of another was too welcoming for her to decline. She was scared she could not protect herself but that was why she had sought Laing, he did nothing untoward in the past, and as she tried to get some rest, he simply spoke softly to her and held her to him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fianna wakes up and conversed with Charlotte, leading to some warnings and explanations.

Fianna woke and groaned. Her head was hurting and her vision was almost fuzzy. Laing had woke her several times during her sleep, much to her annoyance throughout the night but he stated that it was for her safety, to ensure she could wake. All she wanted was to rest. As well as her head hurting terribly, her muscles ached all over her body; from her chest to her legs, everything felt as though she would never be pain-free again. 

All night long, Laing kept her against him, smothering her in the affection his mind had been obsessing with, finally being able to avail of the opportunity to do so. She could not recall much from the night but she recalled his arms around her for the entirety of it. On this waking, she noted Laing was nowhere to be seen. 

She meekly got out of the bed, hissing in pain as she did so and got to her feet. Her progress across the room hampered by the fact her vision was hazy and in her mind, the room was spinning. She crashing painfully into the door frame and grabbed onto it, knowing she would be bruised on her shoulder as a result. 

'Well, that went well.’ 

Fianna focused on Charlotte's oncoming form, knowing that the fact the other woman was doing so in a manner that was neither straightforward or easy to follow may possibly have absolutely nothing to do with her current concussed state. 'As well as can be expected, all things considered.’ She retorted. 

'Is that why you crashed into the door?’ Charlotte smiled. 

'Better that than onto the floor.’ She leant against the door, feeling her body feel too warm and finding it hard to catch her breath. 'Where is…?’

'Checking your traps, apparently. I was told to stay here in case you woke to tell you to stay still.’ She inhaled deeply from her cigarette, allowing the smoke to remain in her body for a moment before exhaling again. 'And here we are.’

'I am surprised you did as he asked.’

'Well, you dying would be rather inconvenient, you are, after all, the food provider around here.’

'Yes, that, and however, would you get cigarettes from Arthur Byrne otherwise?’ Fianna chuckled. Charlotte looked at her bewildered by her knowledge of such things. 'I pay Mr Byrne in cigarettes to pass his floor. I pay him specifically in those cigarettes, the ones you are smoking at present.’

'Anyone could have these.’ Charlotte pointed out. 

'Before this, yes, but I control the supply of cigarettes here now and I specifically give only that brand to him, the same as I only give certain other brands to other people.’

'Why?’ 

'To keep an eye on the lay of the land. Who barters with who, who is in cohorts with who.’

'Bullshit.’ Charlotte declared, half in shock, half in amazement. 

‘To know what people want, so I can ensure I also can give it to them, I need to know what they have access to. It makes it easier then. So you having them tells me you liaise with Byrne.’ 

'You really are something else. What are you, are you in the military?’

'Just observant.’ Fianna shrugged. 

Charlotte said nothing for a moment before commenting again. 'The day I first met you, who was that guy?’ Fianna looked at her blankly. 'Tall fellow, weird accent.’ 

Fianna shook her head. 'Just some delivery guy. Why?’ 

'Looked as though you knew him. He was a good shag.’

Fianna could not help but look at Charlotte and laugh. 'You really would shag anything.’ 

It was not said with malice, which Charlotte realised immediately. She shrugged. 'He was good looking. I'm surprised you didn't.’

'Not my sort of thing.’

'You don't like men?’

Fianna scoffed. 'No, I like men, that's not an issue. It's the laissez-faire approach to fucking random men I just don't see the appeal of.’ 

Charlotte leant against the wall. 'I thought you'd be too stuck up to say “fuck”.’

'I'm not, evidently.’ 

'Robert will be delighted to hear you like men. I think that's been bothering him.’ Fianna gave a bewildered look. ‘He is obsessed with you.’ 

'I'm sure.’ Fianna dismissed. 

'Believe me or not, I don't particularly care, but he is. All he does is look for you, write about you in his little notebooks and even wank to the idea of you. It's almost pathetic really, throw the poor guy a bone and let him fuck you. He's good at it, he's the best there is here even before all of this.’ 

'I am not going to fuck him.’ 

‘Why not?’ If anything, Charlotte seemed offended. 

'Well, for one thing, the last thing I need to risk is getting pregnant in this.’ 

'Wait, you are still bleeding? In this, really?’ Charlotte asked curiously. 

'You've….?’

'Well, I got my tubes tied after Toby, so I don't count but you must be the only woman here that is.’

'No, that's not possible.’

'I beg to differ.’ Charlotte smirked. 'Lucky you.’ If she did not feel like death warmed up, Fianna would have argued more. As it stood, she could barely stand. 'Come on.’ Charlotte urged. Wearily, Fianna followed her to the balcony where Charlotte indicated for her to sit down. She did so and was handed a pot of stewed pigeon and some tinned vegetables. She looked at Charlotte worriedly. 'I haven’t poisoned it.’

'I know. You're not stupid.’ 

'Then why the distrust?’ 

'No one willingly leaves food around.’

‘You need to recover. Like I said, you are the food source here.’

Warily, Fianna leant forward and gently took a spoon of food. As soon as the first mouthful was finished, she shoved another spoonful in. Before long, she wolfed the entire contents, Charlotte saying nothing as she smoked another cigarette. When she finished, Fianna leant back and sighed. It was as though she could feel the food entering her veins to help her body. 'Where is my dog?’

'Robert has it.’ 

Fianna nodded her head. 'Thank you.’ 

'I think that's the first time I have heard that from anyone in six months and the first time ever from you.’

'We never had reason to speak, much less for me to be grateful to you for anything.’

'Do you dislike me that much, Fianna Butler?’ 

Fianna looked at her and huffed slightly. 'I don't hate many people, Charlotte Melville and I am sorry to disappoint you but you're not on the list.’ Charlotte chuckled slightly. 'That's what I dislike about you though, the sneakiness. The need to snoop others while making sure they know as little as possible about you.’

‘I love to talk about me, what do you want to know?’

'Nothing, I don't give a shit, never did.’ Fianna responded. 'I was curious for a time, how a woman with no visible employment could possibly afford a better home than even dentists and college lecturers but then I realised how and I realised, I just don't care.’

'How did I do it so?’ Charlotte asked, curious to see what Fianna had figured out. 

'Toby's father.’

Charlotte found herself smiling slightly and nodding. 'You're right.’ She conceded. 'He gave it to us. And do you know who he was?’

‘No, and I don't care. I realised after I got that far that it is none of my concern. I just don't care about it.’ Fianna stated, leaning back in her chair. ‘My business is me.’ 

'You're better than most here were. They never stopped trying to figure it out.’

'Is that why you did nothing upstairs, you didn't want to be around busybodies?’

'Among other things.’ Charlotte answered. 'Ann Royal had plans for me, to have me be demeaned and scorned at. I had my share of her and her attitude before the world fell apart, looking down on me and acting as though my son and I were nothing more than a dirty mark on her and her husband…’ The was vitriol in Charlotte's words that were more vicious than could be deemed normal in general conversation and it caused Fianna to realise the missing part of the puzzle. 

'I see.’ Charlotte looked at her. 'I see the logic in your reasons.’ 

Charlotte pursed her lips. 'You're the only one.’

‘You don't have to explain it to anyone. Your reasons are yours.’ She paused for a moment before laughing. 'I know you better now in this few minutes than I did the whole time I lived here.’ 

'I thought I knew you.’ Charlotte commented. 

'No one knows me. The only people who ever did have died, even before this.’ Fianna stated bitterly. 

'Did those boys do that to you?’ Charlotte indicated to Fianna's injuries. Fianna nodded. 'Did they do more?’ Fianna shook her head. 'You're lucky you're so strong.’

'You looked worse after Wilder. To keep standing after that, you're even stronger.’ Fianna looked at Charlotte, still not able to see her properly. 'Did you help kill him?’

'Yes.’ There was a hint of pleasure in her tone.

'Good.’ Fianna rose to her feet again feeling a little better. She stumbled slightly but made her way inside, Charlotte remaining on the balcony. 

She looked around the clean apartment, her eyes not able to focus on much but her thoughts going back to what Charlotte had said about Robert and his desires. She sighed. In a different world, perhaps Laing would be someone to consider but she always wanted a proper partner, not a bed partner and from what Charlotte had said, he was not a man for such things back then, she heard from Wilder's wife also of his escapades but in the current climate, with the risks as they were, it was not an option. He was good looking, but not enough so to make stupid mistakes. She walked over to his table of notes and looked at it. 

Laing had not even attempted to tidy it away. There in front of her were detailed notes about her that even Fianna had not taken notice of in her own appearance. Her freckles were documented, even her acne scars, everything was noted. She looked through the notes, focusing on her dizzy state on the ramblings of words. It was startling. Charlotte was right, the notes were there, including some that seemed to be in shorthand code. She tried focusing more in hopes of it just being her current dizziness that was preventing her reading it but she just could not make it out. 

'Fianna, what are you doing out of bed?’ Laing's tone was barely on the polite side of angry.

'I needed to go to the bathroom and I had something to eat.’ She explained. 'I also have outstayed my welcome and need to get back to my own home.’ 

‘You have to stay until your concussion ends.’ He insisted, putting his arms around her. 'It's not safe for you right now. What would you do without someone watching over you?’ 

'Regardless of someone watching me, if things go bad, I am a goner anyway.’ She pointed out. 

'Don't say such things.’ Laing reprimanded, his nose physically in her hair, him inhaling deeply. 'That is a terrible thought. Here I can help you, this is my speciality, after all.’ 

'Robert…’

‘I love the way you say my name.’ 

Fianna felt slightly concerned by his behaviour but her dizziness, mixed felt with food made her severely nauseous and a moment later, she was rushing to the balcony and vomiting violently. 

Charlotte watched boredly, noting the waste of good food as Laing tended to her before taking her in his arms and bringing her back to back to his bed. His comforting words reciting once more. 

Fianna felt terrible as he spoke but unlike the night before, she heard the words being spoken to her and with him getting in beside her and bringing her body to his, she realised the one word being repeated over and over more than any other was “mine”.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the concussion still somewhat of a bother, Fianna is forced to deal with an issue that has been brewing with Laing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I am not going to lie, I had difficulty doing this chapter as it is just verging on very creepy.

When Fianna woke again, she frowned. There was someone holding her against them. She felt the room spinning slightly and groaned. 

“Shh...it's alright.” Came a soothing voice from beside her. 

“Robert?”

“Yes, it's me. Go back to sleep.”

“I should go home.” She tried to get up but he kept her against him. “Please let me go home.” Though she felt miserable, sore and tired, her words were not as pleading as they could sound but somewhat laced in a slight warning. 

“I will, as soon as you go twenty-four hours without being ill.” He promised. “I am only doing this for your own good, Fianna.” Tired and feeling the room spinning more violently, she groaned and accepted she was not able to do anything of note at present, though she felt incredibly uncomfortable with Laing's current behaviour. “I just want to look after you, like you did me until you're better. That's what packs do, they look out for the pack, all members.”

“I'm not…” 

“Yes, you are. We're a pack, you, me, we head it, even Toby, and Charlotte, in her own way. You said it yourself, a pack that has no loyalty, it cannot survive. You are so loyal, you look after us, now the pack has to look after you.” He explained. 

Still concussed, the words were half blurred in going into Fianna's mind, but in the part of her brain that saw the different groups of the large tower block as “packs”, it made sense. She said nothing and just lay still. 

Laing felt her feelings of tension slowly dissipate at the use of terminology that she herself used and with him truly filling his argument with conviction because of him feeling such sentiment, he smiled to himself as she settled more beside him. He pulled her around slightly so that she was in against him as closely as possible before pulling one of her legs so that it was over his, her head on his chest and began to settle back to sleep himself. 

Fianna closed her eyes to deal with the dizziness and soon fell back asleep. As she did so, Laing unconsciously began to fall asleep also. Her leg across his lower body, his hips moving slightly to allow friction between her and him. 

*

When Fianna woke the next morning, she was uncertain as to what caused her to stir at first, but as she focused more, she realised something was untoward. Paying as close attention as her impaired state would allow, she realised her breast was being fondled and that there were very distinct sounds and movements in the bed next to her. She remained still, hoping to not alert Laing to her current woken state, in case he would wish to involve her more in his actions. Part of her wanted to inform him that she was actually awake but curiosity and intrigue caused her to do and say nothing. 

As Laing became more invested in his actions, his hand came away from her and his movements became more intense, slight noises come to the fore as he began to reach his crescendo. At the moment that had occurred, Fianna chose to open her eyes only to see Laing looking directly at her before his face scrunched and a feral noise forced itself from him. 

She said nothing as he lay there, panting as a result of his actions. To add to the odd behaviour of the situation, she lifted the bed linen to see what was happening underneath. Laing was still confined to his pants, so nothing was viewable, not that that stopped her looking. When she raised her gaze again, Laing's gaze was focused completely on her. He stared intently at her for several moments before leaning over and kissing her gently on the forehead before getting out of the bed and leaving the room without a single word to her. 

Fianna lay in the bed and contemplated her situation. In some respects, Laing's words rang true, she had inadvertently become part of a little pack. That concerned her, it had never been the plan. She needed to stay neutral, that allowed her to remain capable of moving throughout the building without too great a problem. If she was allied with Robert, she saw little issue stemming from that. He did not seem to have any rivalries outside of the aspect of food acquiring but that was something they all suffered, gender was not part of that particular situation. But Charlotte, she played a roulette game of sorts. Her liaising with, from what Fianna could ascertain was every man in the building, meant that should she anger any of them, they could see fit to seek revenge on her “pack”, something that Fianna really could not have occur if she wished to continue her current modus operandi. The other issue she had to concern herself with that was not something Charlotte had to worry about was she was very much still menstruating, if any of the men assumed she was in the same line of bartering as Charlotte, she had added worries and with no access to any preventative measures, she could not risk the side effects of such actions, in fact, that struck genuine fear in her. 

With that terrifying prospect in mind, she gingerly got to her feet and inhaled deeply before trying to get to the door. She made it there with not too much issue but as she readied to go out it, the room began to spin again. Upset, she whined and forced herself back to the bed, worrying as to how she could get out of her current state. 

The offending strike that caused her concussion had not seemed very strong or indeed make her think there was an issue immediately after it occurred but running for your very life is somewhat distracting, she recalled her father talking about a man he had trained with who completed a course with what he had thought was a sore ankle but on further inspection, it revealed he had shattered one of his leg bones. The requirement to complete the course in the allocated time had made him push through the pain and caused him to use a broken leg to make it back to the camp. She clearly had done similar with her concussion. 

Lying on the bed, she knew she was going to have to force herself to work with the situation at hand, even though it was less than ideal. She did not want to have sex with anyone but she doubted many would be as restrained as Laing had been, in all case scenarios. Him jacking off while looking at her was by far, the best she could ask for. He had the option to fuck her and didn't, to her, that really was the best she could ask for. 

She didn't even think about her own actions; her not alerting him to the fact that she had woken up and after when she had looked under the blanket. She had been sorely disappointed at not seeing anything and in her mind, that was acceptable. 

She curled up in the bed and fell back asleep. When she woke a time later, she yelped when she saw Laing standing across the room from her, looking at her without so much as a single blink for the entirety of the time they looked at one another. When finally, the spell that seemed to be over them broke, Laing rushed at the bed and had it so he was over Fianna, a hand on either side of her head, his body on top of hers, the very distinct feel of an erection on her thigh. Again, Laing was staring at her intently. “Mine.” He growled. 

“No.” She looked him in the eye as she spoke. “I am no ones but my own. I belong to me.”

“We are a pack.”

“In ways, yes, but I am mine.”

Laing stared at her some more before a sly grin graced his lips. He smirked a moment more before a small chuckle escaped him. “I cannot be surprised, it's your tenacity that is so alluring.” Before Fianna could retort, he leant down and kissed her aggressively on the lips, the possession he spoke of was almost as clear in his kiss. “I am enraptured by you, Fianna.”

“Robert…” She warned. Laing kissed her again. “No.” She pushed him off her. “No.” When he grabbed her again and pressed his body to hers, Fianna gripped him to her and rolled them both to the edge of the bed and over it, Laing hitting the floor first. He grunted in pain and loosened his grip. “I said NO!” 

For his part, Laing chuckled and smiled. “Don’t worry, I don't want 'that', You are unlike any other woman I have met.” He stated, looking at the ceiling. “You remind me of a book I read before, I can't even remember the name, but you do.”

Fianna had been trying to get to the door but seeing that Laing was not following her, she ceased and looked around at him. She watched him curiously, the feeling of danger not as prevalent as it had been a moment before. “I am not yours, Robert.”

“I know.”

“Then when say it?” 

“Because I want you to be.” He smiled and looked at her. “You'll see, sooner or later, that you want to be mine.” Angered, Fianna forced herself to her feet and unsteadily got herself out of the room. Laing did not attempt to follow her. “Just wait and see.” He half sang to himself. 

With no one in the room and feeling incredibly turned on by Fianna's tenacity, he just opened his pants and did as he had earlier that day, the images of her against him and her panting in his mind as he did so.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life in the tower block becomes more difficult as food becomes scarce. Unwilling to risk seeing if Laing is still in control of his urges, Fianna avoids him and continues to try and find food, but times are hard and she makes a decision, but is it a wise one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for not updating sooner, I was stuck as to how I wanted to continue this.

Fianna groaned. Her head had recovered from the concussion, but she felt odd most of the time, like her mind was slightly fuzzy. At first, she thought it was just her imagination, but then she realised the Dog had tendencies to pant even without exerting himself in the slightest in some areas of the building so she avoided such areas. 

On more than one occasion, she noticed her traps had been moved or emptied and reset with bait she knew for a fact were Laing's supplies. Irate, she refused to let her anger cause her to return to the twenty-fifth floor, scared that he had lost restraint of himself and his previous actions would escalate, instead she left a little note on one and moved her other supplies away. 

With food in the High Rise decreasing and seemingly even the animals that were present there becoming wise to the traps, food scarcity worried her. Her supply in the old gym floor’s managers office was depleting daily and the jimmying she noticed on the lock told her that either Laing or Toby had tried their luck with it but to little avail. She took the food needed to supply the Wolves' Lair for the day from it and delivered it, earning an irked “Is that all?” from those there before going on. Worried and desperate, Fianna was forced to think about leaving the building in search of food, something that she had not contemplated since she received her injury at the hands of the youths, who animals had long since eaten large chunks off of on the pavement outside. Knowing that without fresh supplies, the Lair would be one aggressive and for as much as she was wary of Robert, she did not any ill to befall him and knew that should the Lair be desperate enough and find him, he would be eliminated, along with every other threat they encountered. She did not wish for such to happen and hence, began planning her expedition to the world outside the towering building. 

*

Robert chuckled as he looked at the note left on the trap from Fianna. He had originally been irked by her hiding her other traps, but with the communication between them being nonexistent since her leaving the apartment, his mood became better as a result of her words, even if they were aggressive, that only made him recall just how vivacious and tenacious she was. In the time since she left the twenty-fifth floor, his obsessive fixation on her did not yield, but he did not seek her, he wished for her to come willingly to him and for that to occur, he required being patient. 

The trap was empty of a meal and even in his less than fully sane state, he knew that meant that food was getting more scarce. There were times food did not make its way to his balcony and in his attempts to get food from “The Lair” as Fianna had christened it, Toby was privy to the knowledge that they also received little. 

He had tried the door to the manager's office on one occasion, he was incredibly hungry on that particular day, but Fianna had it secured it against even the most determined of raiders. It was beginning to worry him how little food seemed to be available. The “Lair” was showing signs of the food woes also, children and women were becoming ill and the rations to pay him with were so meagre, had he not been without food for over a day, he could have declined it. 

It was as he made his way through the nineteenth floor, rummaging through the remains of what was once someone's home, said someone long since deceased and their skeleton nothing more than clothed bones, long picked clean by hungry animals when he finally saw Fianna again. He was on their balcony, tossing random mess over the ledge to the ground below when he saw her. He paused and watched as she and Dog walked to the edge of the rubbish pile of waste and cars that somewhat made the perimeter of their high rise home and scanned the world beyond it. Laing could almost sense her hesitation from his perch above her. As there came a loud bang in the shrubbery past the next block of apartments, she scampered back into their home and away from the noise. Curiously, Laing decided to pay closer heed to the entrance to their building for the rest of the day. 

*

Come nightfall, Laing had safely, through cautious means, navigated his way to the lobby reception area of the building. It was stacked high with rubbish as well as the rotting remains of people he was about ninety-nine per cent sure were not residents of the building, posing in a manner that left people in no uncertainty as to the warning they gave to any that would consider entering the domain He walked out to the piled high rubbish and looked over it, startled to see a single person, of not particularly tall height, slowly and skillfully making their way through the long damaged and unusable cars that littered the car park. It took Robert all of a moment to know who it was that was skulking through the night. With as much focus as he could muster, he followed her. 

The blocks that surrounded theirs had not been completed when society collapsed, but with the collapse, people needed somewhere sheltered to live because their previous accommodation was no longer suitable. Going by the sounds in the closest one to them, or lack thereof for the most part, and a large number of items barricading the entrance, Laing suspected it was something akin to “The Lair”, the sounds of children and the occasional woman looking around suggested such, the one next to that had considerable damage and the noises suggested youths, akin to those that hurt his beloved Fianna. Part of him wished he could burn it, with all of them inside, they were a scourge in society, the cries of women coming from within told him a lot of their characters also. Knowing he could do nothing to assist any within without risking his own life, and wanting to keep up with Fianna, Laing continued his journey through the shadows to the world beyond their building. When he reached some trees, he looked up and noticed ropes hanging from branches as nooses. There was no sign of occupants for said nooses, so he was uncertain as to if they were for show or functional and he did not wish to find out. 

Laing heard rustling in the bushes, filling him with fear. A feminine hand came up behind him and tapped his shoulder gently, chuckling slightly Laing turned.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fianna goes hunting outside her comfort zone and realises that by the new modern standard, her home is civilised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never thought I would have to write this in a story, but eh....warning, references to cannibalism.

Fianna wanted nothing more than to go back to the high rise. Every fibre of her being begged for it. She wanted the familiar, the “safety” of her home. But needs must and food was not available there so she forced herself to fight the instinct for home and continue on. She hunted the small area around the different buildings, there was little by way of cover so she had to be cautious. It was not long before she began to scour further from the area in search of food. 

She could hear noises nearby, both of wild youths like the two she had gotten rid of and of less distinguishable sounds. She kept a close eye on things there. What startled her was when a group of four people brandishing weapons rushed into an area of bushes she had occupied not long before. She studied their movements carefully. There was a masculine shout before several more. Fianna's instincts immediately screamed at her to flee once more, to return to the relative safety of the tower but the shout rooted her to the spot. Something about the noise made her want to check it. It registered in some small recess of her mind. When the people came out of the bushes again, the man was dragged, a rope around his neck and him seemingly unconscious. Fianna felt a mixture of fear and curiosity as to what the women would do with their captive. She also wondered when the man had gone to those bushes as she was certain that there had not been a man there when she had been in there. She worried if he had come to investigate her and if he would reveal her to the others. There was no guarantee that she would be allowed to pass freely simply by virtue of her gender. The Lair would not allow it and she knew preservation would dictate these people not allow it also. Not wanting to risk being spotted, she forced herself to continue her search for food, no matter how desperately she yearned to return to her home. 

*

It had been a successful night as far as Fianna was concerned. A Labrador was a lot of eating, she also found viable seeds to allow for further food to be grown on the rooftop and to top it off, she found dead leaves and other such things to assist in returning nutrients to the soil which they grew them in also. She hauled her kill over shoulders to prevent it from being dragged on the ground and damaging the carcass. She listened carefully as she went through the land surrounding the high rise buildings once more. She had been incredibly cautious in her actions in the areas she had visited. It had cost her some very valuable food but she argued to herself that no food was worth her life. She could skip a meal, she could not risk getting caught by someone she did not know. It was too risky. A man could beat and/or rape her and then kill her, if not something worse would be highly likely also. It was not worth that. She also feared those who would be on high alert after their acquisition of a man earlier. They could fear retaliation or something similar so she went slowly and cautiously. 

The darkness was not as useful as one would imagine. It did give some cover but that meant it was a more common time for others to venture out into the darkness also, leaving her with the very challenging obstacle of getting back to the tower undetected. 

She came to the area that surrounded the large domineering buildings with relative ease, but getting herself and her kill through it would be a challenge. She contemplated waiting until first light, where she suspected most who inhabited the darkness would do their resting but she could only think of the bushes the man had been captured in for enough cover but evidently, that area was kept under strict surveillance. 

She decided to check the back of the buildings also for possible routes but found them to be too exposed. It was a long run at the best of times, but with at least thirty kilos of dead weight on her shoulders, it would seem all the longer. She inhaled and recalled her father, talking about his time in the military and the time spent running across the hills of South Wales, a place he brought her more than once on holidays. She had travelled miles with a rucksack on her shoulders for that, carrying water and supplies, but she was healthier and far better rested then and that pack did not weigh as the dog did. She decided to rest for a few minutes before she would attempt it. This would be her greatest risk to date and she wished to make it as possible as she could. She sat and rested her limbs for a short time as well as her back, in the bushes, her kill to her side in case she needed to rush again. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing. She focused on her limbs and she rested herself. 

Fianna's ears perked to a noise nearby. It was not particularly close but were she to make any noise, there was a good chance she would be caught so she regulated her breathing and waited. It was a group of three males, or that is what she felt it was going by the voices she could hear. She did not want to be dealing with them and with three against one, she had little to no chance of even landing a substantial blow to one before they would overpower her and she had no inclination to being anyone's sex toy, a large possibility were she to believe what the men were saying they would do should they encounter a female. She pressed back against the bushes as far as she could go before freezing in terror as loud noises rang out. 

She held her breath as the men tried to scarper while projectiles fell towards them from the nearest tower, many on fire. She simply waited fearfully, hoping nothing came toward her. She watched as one was struck with something that was on fire and shrieked in pain at it. The stench of burnt hair and skin came downwind where Fianna was, causing her to grimace at the odour. The man was quickly put out of his misery when a cinder block landed on him and ended his suffering, his friends not being as severely injured but also suffering wounds as they rushed off. 

In her worry with the men and the projectiles, Fianna took longer than she would usually have to sense all was not as it should be. She felt akin to an animal that could not see a predator yet knew one was skulking close by. She focused her attention and realised she was in a precarious position. 

“It's okay, we got them, you can come out.” Came a stern yet not a menacing female voice. 

Fianna weighed up her options. Part of her was unsure if she could trust the woman and her grouping, for very obvious reasons but the other part wondered what would occur if she did not comply. Inhaling deeply, she wished once more that she was in the High Rise. She would willingly be back in the situation where she was dependent on Robert Laing and him becoming less inclined to respect her wishes a hundred times over than to be in the position she found herself in now. What startled Fianna was how her thoughts went to Robert, how she wished she had just stayed with him, for as much as his actions irked her at the time, she knew he would not harm her. She thought of how much she wished she had not left the tower as she heard a gun cock, she knew her options and moved forward. Coming out of the bushes and stood straight, analyzing the situation. There were women facing her, and to her surprise, men also, but towards the back of the group. Inhaling deeply, she waited.

“Are you alone?” The woman asked. 

“Yes.”

The group studied her carefully. “Where do you come from?” A man to the back of the group asked. 

Fianna accepted whatever fate would befall her and pointed to the tower she called home. 

“Lies!” The man declared. “Hardly anyone survives there and not a woman. Bodies surround it of men.”

Not wanting to risk the Lair, Fianna said nothing of the colony of children and women hiding in their home. “My father was military, he taught me to survive as a youth, I lasted this long because of it.”

“What was your profession?” The woman that spoke first demanded. 

“Veterinary assistant.”

“Not much use for those these days.” The man chuckled. 

Fianna noted the group seemed to agree and quickly sensed it was not in her best interests to remain close to them with such an analysis of her usefulness. “It allows me to know how to tend to wounds and kill quickly so it works for me.” She shrugged. 

“Why did you leave your tower?”

“Food has run out, I was hoping to get something out here.” She looked at her tower sadly. “Please, I just want to go home.”

“I'm afraid we cannot let you do that, not yet.” The man grinned, walking forward. 

“Dave.” The woman warned. 

“She's not scared of men, well, not like other women are. I want to see what she can do.”

“Fine.” The woman turned to leave. “Get him and bring her too.” The group turned and did as instructed. 

Dave came towards her with a few others causing Fianna to step back slightly. “It really is in your best interests to come with us.” He suggested. 

With nostrils flared with fear, Fianna forced herself to follow, noting how the group circled her as well as collecting the corpse of the man that had first been set on fire before being struck by the block. She was curious as to why they would do that but said nothing. She was guided into the building, which was similar to the tower she resided in, though the debris was not as plentiful, yet it was more pragmatic, bits of cars and other hard and difficult to permeate materials littered the lobby. The doorway was protected by two very foreboding and well-armed men who eyed her curiously as they passed, checking her weapons as they did, finding only her knife which she used to hunt and taking it from her.

Fianna, as much as she wished to argue, knew better than to do so. She followed them up the flights of stairs, not paying attention to the numbers, instead of worrying about how deep into an unknown area she was going. When she got to what she soon realised was the top floor penthouse, she grimaced at the smell that met her. It was a stench of blood and rot she had not experienced even in the worst of the killing in their tower. When she looked around, she swallowed in fear. 

There was blood in multiple homemade vats as well as bones that she knew to be that of humans. When she saw a homemade spit and what was on it, Fianna's blood ran cold. The leg of a man was spinning slowly with a child of about ten years rotating it, utterly nonplussed by the task at hand. 

“What is this?” Came a male voice causing Fianna to look to the side. “That better be tomorrow's dinner or someone of use because we don't need another mouth to feed, Dave.”

“Susan said I could bring her to see what she can do. She was a vet assistant apparently, better than nothing.” The man named Dave stated. 

The clearly more senior man came over and inspected here. “Perhaps, perhaps not. Put her with the guy from earlier for now and we'll test her soon. I hear there is a fresh carcass to cut for now.” He looked around and was brought to the body of the youth before extending his hand to be given a knife that Fianna was certain she had seen a butcher use. She said nothing as she was forced to follow the man named Dave again and went to the terrace that in Royal's penthouse housed the garden. It held a far more sinister purpose in this building. There were a gallows, a chopping block and a tub of water all clearly used often. Terrified, Fianna inhaled deeply and did as she was told, thinking of ways to get home. She stood as instructed before noting a man being dragged forward, fighting his fate as the noose was being put around his neck on the makeshift gallows, looking around in terror. When his eyes met hers, she gasped as she looked at him. “Robert!”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robert and Fianna are in a terrible predicament and are unsure what is afoot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like with the previous chapter, cannibalism. Wow, when did I think I would write that.
> 
> The answer is never. I never envisaged such a situation

Robert's eyes widened as he heard a familiar voice. On seeing Fianna, her eyes wide and fearful, he tried to shout to her but his mouth was gagged with a rag of some manner. 

*

Robert had been convinced it was Fianna behind him in the bushes, but he could not have been more wrong. The first he knew of his error was the cloth going over his mouth. He tried to struggle but his deep inhale of breath meant the potent liquid that doused the cloth entered his lungs immediately and hastened the effect of the drugs it contained and forced him to lose consciousness. When he woke, he felt pains under his arms and around his neck but had been tied and gagged so he could do nothing to try and ascertain what was happening. 

A man and woman eyed him and spoke about him as though he was unable to understand them but their words terrified him. They had seen Fianna and let her pass but not him. The man gave the order to see what Fianna was doing while he dealt with Robert. Terrified, Robert had tried to convince them to let him speak, to offer something in return for his freedom, but his grunts and groans as he attempted to speak only irked the man, who kicked him in the stomach to wind him before leaving him tied in a locked room and awaiting his fate. 

When he was finally dragged from the room, he was startled to see the people eating a meat of some sort. Hungry, he wished to have some also. It was only when he noticed the execution devices did he gather how they came to have meat and became incredibly fearful, as well as feeling any sensation of hunger leaving him immediately. 

“Which will we give him?” One man asked. “Drowning?”

Robert felt his legs go weak at the mere thought of such a prolonged and suffering form of death.

“No, he did no harm, hang him.” The one in charge ordered. “Drop hang. We are not sadists.”

“You heard him.” The first man stated, clearly disappointed at the declaration. 

That is when Robert was dragged to the makeshift gallows, fighting them as best he could. When he heard his name in that voice, he thought himself already dead. When he saw Fianna in front of him, he shouted into the gag for her to run. 

She did run, to him. “Please, no.” She looked to the man that had asked her what had been her profession. “He is a doctor. Please.”

“You know this man?” 

“Yes, his name is Robert, Dr Robert Laing.” She stated quickly. 

The man eyed the pair, noting the way she held onto the man and the manner in which the man looked fearful for her. “Untie him but stay vigilant.” One man came forward and cut the ropes around Robert's wrists and stood back again with a raised weapon, as did others. Robert's reaction was to take off the gag then pulled Fianna to him, kissing her temple. 

Those gathered watched silently, coming to a unanimous conclusion. “A pair.” The head woman stated. 

“Perhaps.” The head male responded. “Let us see.” He stood forward and noted Robert pull Fianna to the side, his body in front of hers. “What is her name?”

“Fianna Butler, she was twenty-eight when this started, born on the south coast, near Devon, father British military, mother an Irish nurse and worked as a veterinary assistant before this.”

The man gave a curious smirk. “That is a start but not proof of a pair in itself.”

“She has a beauty mark, on her right shoulder and a scar on her right arm from a wound she received falling through a floor.” He recited. “She had seventeen freckles on her nose and two closed piercings on each ear.”

“He either knows her or is the most thorough stalker in history.” The woman scoffed. “Come this way.”

Robert and Fianna looked at each other for a moment before walking forward, both sensing that to ignore the request would not be met with a positive result. They did so, Robert ensuring to have a good grip on Fianna's hand to prevent them separated. Other's, who too were armed, followed them. 

“We can never be too careful.” The woman explained. “We have bad experiences with lone males, they are second only to grouped males for danger, women tend to be better, but still something to be wary of, but pairs, they seldom are a concern.” She explained. “I am Gillian, I was one of the first here.”

“Robert.” Fianna pointed to Robert. “And Fianna, obviously. We are from the occupied tower.”

“So how did you survive there? Anyone who gets there is usually on the pavement within an hour?” 

“It was bedlam at first, men fought, drank, killed and raped but numbers decreased and people began to lock themselves into floors. Now there are only a few and if they catch you on their floor, you're dead.” Fianna explained. 

“So why did you risk the journey out?”

“Food is gone. What limited supplies were there are gone and there's nothing left. I went hunting and clearly…” she glared at Robert. “Robert followed. I felt it safer that I go alone.” She turned to him again. “And I was right.”

“Yes, but I could not leave you to go alone.” he defended. 

Fianna shook her head. “I had not realised he followed. We mean you all no harm, nothing of the sort, we just needed to try and find food.”

“What did you find?”

“A dog, some seeds and a few rotten leaves I was hoping to use to make soil for them.”

The woman laughed. “Farming? Well, that's a new one. A dog isn't much eating and surely you like animals.”

“Yes, but needs must.”

“I saw your reaction to our food.” Gillian stated, studying Fianna's reaction. “You have doubts.”

“I read about those rugby players in the Andes a decade ago, of their reluctance but circumstance that forced their decision, I said then that it was a difficult decision. Today, many face the same one.” She replied. 

“When we took this tower, there was no food, nothing, it was completely barren. We faced certain starvation, it was our only hope. Children would have died.”

“And they are all those who would harm you.”

“Exactly.”

“I never planned to hurt anyone.” Robert growled. 

“Robert.” Fianna placed a hand on Robert's chest and looked up at him while giving her head a shake. 

“It is as we said, only one of the twelve single men that came here has been non-violent, Jeremy is the only one to not wish us harm and be an asset to our group, all others wanted to form a coup or simply take over. We have had to create a blanket policy these days, we have lost children to these monsters.” Laing swallowed. “You see sense, paired couples usually do. I think it is the sanity of having another to tend for that keeps a paired man from going feral. Women seem less inclined to do so, single ones tend to cause no harm, but we cannot accept everyone, food is too limited.”

“Of course.” Fianna agreed. 

“You wish to return to your tower?”

“We do.” It was Robert that answered that time, his arm around Fianna.

“I understand but we have dire need of medical assistance here.” The woman explained. “It is imperative that we check a few people. If you are a doctor, you can do so.”

Robert cleared his throat, all too aware of the threat thinly veiled in her words. “I do not have any supplies.”

“There is a rare place that does nowadays.” Gillian retorted.

“I will, of course, look over anyone that requires it, though I would ask that if none are life-threatening, that Fianna and I be allowed rest first.” He pleaded. 

Gillian looked to one of the heaviest armed men and nodded. “Trevor will show you to a room.” She stated. 

“Thank you.” Robert smiled, keeping Fianna with him as they walked after the frightening looking man and through those gathered at the now cooked leg, eating. 

Trevor showed them to a room. “I fear there isn't much here.” He stated. 

Fianna and Robert looked at the makeshift bed on the floor and the blanket sewn together from scraps. “It is more than adequate, thank you,” Robert assured him before ushering Fianna over. 

As soon as Trevor closed the door, Robert turned to Fianna who, to his shock, slapped him across the face, startling him. “What were you thinking, following me?” She shriek-whispered. 

“Me? What were you thinking coming out to even begin with and not saying anything to me?”

“I had no choice, the food is gone. I had to try and keep us alive, speaking of which, who is minding Toby?”

“I ordered him to The Lair. Him and Dog.”

“Well, Dog is dinner by now.” She sighed as she went to lay down on the makeshift bed. “I liked that dog.” 

Robert inhaled deeply. “I'm sorry.” He sat beside her, looking at her for a moment before laying down also. “Thank you for saving me….again.”

“When I was scared I would be killed, do you know who I thought of?” He looked at her curiously. “You.”

Robert gave a small smile before leaning over and kissing her. Fianna gave a moment's thought to her possible reaction before kissing him back, Robert then leaning over her and pressing his body to hers, and her not reacting aggressively against it, instead, allowing her hands to slide down and to his ass. 

*

“Well?” Gillian looked to her partner who looked up from his meal to speak to her. 

“They are resting and are very much a pair.” Gillian informed him, sitting down to her own food. “He will tend to the ill soon.”

“Good. A doctor and a veterinary assistant, that's a good night, I mean, she's not a nurse, but it's something.”

“They want to go back to their tower.”

“No, we need them here.” Her partner declared authoritatively. “They stay, at all costs.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robert and Fianna are forced to deal with the new situation and find a way to survive, adapt and hopefully escape while also dealing with the situation of being forced to deal with obscure feelings for one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies, the Christmas went a bit mad, I got fixated on another fic for a small time and I was in a car crash so it's been a hectic few weeks, but enjoy another chapter of madness.

Laing cherished the affections Fianna bestowed upon him. His night had struck lows he had not felt since Simmons and the others attempted to throw him over the side of the building. He had been lucky that Royal had saved his skin that day and he was just as lucky to have Fianna save him on the second and indeed third attempts on his life, recalling the day she had parlayed his life with Hargrave and his companion, as well as their current situation. Having her willingly under him, her lips against his, even in the insanity of the current predicament, his mind refused to turn down such an opportunity. He fondled whatever he could get his hands on, groaning as she pulled his lip with her teeth and relishing in the ability to grind against her, allowing his lust to continue towards a crescendo. 

As his hand went to undo her pants, however, Fianna shook her head at him. “No.” She gasped out, her breathing heavy as a result of their actions. “We can't.”

“We…”

“Robert, we need to find a way out of here and get home. We cannot stay longer than we have to, it's too dangerous.” She insisted, toying with his hair as she spoke. “We need our wits about us and to rest as best we can before we see what we need to do.” 

Irked, Laing pulled back and went to her side, pulling her to him. 

Fianna could feel the tension coming from Robert as they lay, his body leaning against hers and the subtle movements of his hips as he tried to contain his lust with limited success. Without even thinking, she snaked her hand to his pants and rubbed it against his groin, his movements with full intensity immediately as a result, his breathing increasing as he did so. Her movements were not overly extravagant but they were studious, taking note of almost every aspect of his body as she did so. It was not long before Laing opened his pants, leant to the side and groaned loudly as he soiled her hand and the space between them with his fluids. 

As he ceased his movements, he pulled her to him again and kissed her aggressively, as he had done before, when he pulled back, his smirk was bright. “Mine.” He declared with only a hint of playfulness, Fianna knew it was far more of a declaration than of jestful comment that made him say it but she said nothing. Her thoughts went back to when she was in the bushes and walking through this building and of how she thought of him and him alone as she feared the worst. She knew dynamics had shifted, that she and Robert were very much in unfamiliar territory and if she had to be forced to deal with this, a familiar face was better than nothing and curled in against him, her head on his chest. 

*

A few hours later, Laing woke and looked to his side, shocked to see no sign of Fianna. He looked around and again saw no sign of the woman. The room was empty but for himself. Sitting up, he looked around worriedly. He then rose to his feet and rushed to the door which he opened with aggression, leading to startling a child on the other side. As soon as they child yelped, two men rushed to the area armed. 

“What's going on here?”

“Where's Fianna?”

The men looked at the frantic look on Laing's face and realised that the newcomer was indifferent to the child in front of him. “Outside.” Was all the burlier of the men stated. 

Laing did not utter a word as he passed them and went to where the man had pointed, ignoring everyone who watched him warily as he passed them. When he got to the open area that was Royal's personal garden turned the farmed area in their tower, where the death instruments all resided and scoured them all before looking around. 

“Robert?”

On hearing Fianna, his search became more frantic until he saw her, his tie in her hair and blood on her face, standing not too far away. He rushed over to her and looked at the blood on her. “What….?”

“Just cutting up dinner, you prefer leg, so I started by doing that.” She smiled as though she was not surrounded by cannibals and covered in blood but like a nineteen-fifties suburban housewife. 

Startled, Laing looked down and found himself relieved to see a surprisingly plump Labrador dead on the carving table. “What...yes. How?”

“Moore over went back to the bush and retrieved our food, and gave me back my hunting knife.” She indicated to the burly man Laing had growled at inside who was standing by the doorway watching studiously as well as her knife in her hand. “Are you okay?” She studied his frantic demeanour. 

“I woke and you weren't there.”

“I woke half an hour ago, you looked like you needed the rest so I said I would let you sleep on.” She explained. 

Sensing others looking at them, Laing leant down and pulled her to him, inhaling her scent. “Mine.” He whispered quietly. 

“Robert….” It was not a warning, as her statements had been before, her eyes showing a mixture of emotions. She gently touched him, the gesture filled with almost yearning. 

If her intentions were to settle Robert, it was not successful, instead he felt more possessive and wished to claim her even more than she had permitted earlier but knew she would not allow it, that did not stop him all but attaching himself to her while she finished removing the skin of their food and readying it. 

Gillian and Frank, her partner, eyed the pair carefully as they prepared their meal. Frank walked forward causing both Fianna and Robert to eye him cautiously. “Well, Doctor, your patients await.” 

Robert and Fianna looked at one another for a moment before Fianna gave a small smile and nodded. “I'm here if you need me,” she leant up and kissed his cheek as she spoke. 

Robert felt wrong being brought away from her. “I will see them, of course, but I ask that I do so while able to see Fianna close by.” He tried to not sound demanding, something difficult to display as he wanted nothing more than to snarl it but he only got this far because he could give off the impression he was no threat to established authority and that trait would again be his saviour if he could mask his demand as a request. 

Frank seemed to contemplate his words for a moment. “You would think that you do not trust us, Doctor.”

“We have to be vigilant, just as you have been, for our safety,” Fianna smiled politely. “Robert and I both bear scars as a result of others attacking us and we could not have survived if we had not been together. You do not trust us yet either and we cannot take offence, as Gillian stated, children have been lost.” 

Frank's jaw clenched at the memory of past events in their group before shrugging indifferently. “Fine. Inside the glass, you can see her cook your food from there.” He looked at the dog with mild disgust. “It's pathetic as a meat source.” 

“It works for us.” Fianna smiled as she went to the small fire that she was permitted to use to spi[roast their meal. 

Robert went against the urge to remain with her and allowed himself to be guided inside and to the people waiting. 

Between checking all of those who required him, he kept an eye on Fianna as well as noting what could be done and what would need to be acquired for those presenting certain issues. Malnutrition was the largest issue, especially in the young, scurvy was beginning to be displayed by many of those presenting to him, as well as anaemia, and in some children, rickets. The adults tended to have the first two as well as a few of the sexual diseases that seemed to make their way into the health world, with the sharing of sexual partners, many of the adults showed signs of such, which, he thought to himself,  
made him less inclined to feel amorous towards Fianna at such an inappropriate time as seeing pus oozing genitalia would make anyone feel less inclined to be so. 

He had dealt with a considerable number of those in need of care by the time Fianna came over to him again, the canine limb in her hand. Robert cleaned his hands and excused himself, stating he would resume his services as soon as he had eaten, informing Fianna of a few stitching that were required, should they find the materials to do so. 

They ate in comfortable silence, or as comfortable as could be in the situation they found themselves in, beside their kill. “It is a fortress, far more secure than ours,” Fianna informed him before looking over to where their tower was. “I want to go home.” 

Robert sighed and kissed her temple. “We will.” He rubbed her head and kissed her again. “Soon.”

Gillian stood watching from not far away when Frank and Jeremy. “He needs supplies to help a few.” She informed them. “He said that she is the better at wound care.”

Frank chuckled. “Dave needs to be rewarded for this incredible find. They're perfect.” He patted Jeremy's arm. “Sorry to say, I don't think he's willing to share, however.” He chuckled. “Get what they need, however it needs to be.”

“If they mention leaving again?” Gillian inquired. 

“I meant it, they stay, no matter what,” Frank growled. “They are everything we need.”

“They don't want to eat as we do.”

“They will see sense. Hunger will make them see it.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laing and Fianna continue to develop something akin to a relationship while different aspects of the situation they are in, come into play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really find this the most difficult story to do as it is odd and dark, but definitely interesting.

Laing groaned slightly as he woke. Beside him, Fianna was sleeping soundly, her hand on his chest. Looking down at her, he felt some deep recess of his mind was content with the situation, having her forced to accept him for the fear of others. Her touches and actions spurring even more lust in him. He wanted to feel the sensation of her under him fully, their bodies intertwined, him deep inside her, marking every last piece of her as his. She was denying him that still but he knew, with time, she would submit that to him too, he merely had to wait. He pulled her to him more and thought of their situation. The more he thought about it, the more he realised there was merit to remaining where they were. He knew that those in charge, especially Frank, did not want them to leave and to try and do so could perhaps be more dangerous than staying, the greatest concern, however, was the food sources. Robert was less than pleased at the idea of eating another person. Like Fianna, he recalled the news of that flight in the Andes a decade before and the choices those people faced, he could not say with any level of certainty that he would choose that fate even now and he most certainly did not want Fianna to do so. Feeling her stir against him, he looked down at her. She was his, finally. She willingly kissed him, and with time, she would give herself even more to him, he simply had to be patient. He held still to allow her to rest. 

What caught his attention was the manner in which she was moving against him. For a few moments, he thought her to be itching herself before he realised her motions were something more. He watched curiously and with a slight inkling of pride as she rubbed her body against his, little sounds of rising pleasure making their way through her lips as she did so. With his mind going to when he had felt amorous and she had placed her hands to his crotch, he reciprocated and slid his hand to the apex of her thighs, her actions becoming immediately more aggressive. She moaned and gasped as he pressed his hand more to the crotch of her pants, allowing him to feel the damp that was coming through the from her arousal. 

When he looked at her face, he realised she was still sleeping and doubled his efforts, though why her being asleep made him feel he should do so, he was unsure. When finally, her noises reached their peak, he smirked proudly as the clear gasp of the word ‘Robert’ came with it. He watched keenly as Fianna woke to slightly hastened breathing with a perplexed look on her face. “What…?”

“Pleasant dream?” He smirked, his yellowed teeth clear to see as she looked at him with a significant amount of confusion. 

“I...think so?”

“It sounded pleasant, I particularly liked the part at the end, when my name graced your lips.”

 

“What?” 

Robert did not give her an answer, instead, he attacked her lips with gusto, nipping and forcing himself over her as she seemed to wake up more and realised the dampening between her legs. “Mine.” The ever-present possessive growl Robert seemed to bestow on her came to the fore once more. 

Fianna had since realised that her dream had actually been more active and louder than she had thought and the wet between her legs and the slight pulsing that still resonated there also told her that Robert had been fully aware of her situation. She kissed him back, wanting the comfort of touch and affection as her mind tried to make sense of everything. She wanted nothing more than to be in familiar surrounds and at present, that was Robert. Her hands were toying with his pants, eagerly trying to get to the hardened appendage inside, their kisses open-mouthed with gasping breaths as they fought to breathe between their feral acts of lust. She had barely gotten into his pants and began stroking him when the door opened. 

“Get out!” Robert bellowed as he realised that there was another invading their privacy. When the sound of the door closing did not come, he glared around at the man looking at them. It was the man he knew to be called Jeremy. He had come to Laing the day before with an odd lumping around his genitals that he knew to be transmitted within sexual partners. He looked the man dead in the eye, noting the manner he was watching Robert for a moment before his main focus went to Fianna, telling him the object of the other man’s desire. He got Jeremy to put his focus back on him and shielded Fianna from his view as best he could while he urged her to continue what she was doing, gasping and groaning in pleasure as she focused her attention on that. He hissed through bared teeth as she started toying with him, her thumb rubbing over the top of his length but his eyes stayed entirely on Jeremy as he did so, telling the man, in no uncertain terms that there would be no challenge accepted, Fianna was his. As soon as he felt the sensation travel down his gut to where she was so very attentively working, Robert could not hold back his release any longer and bellowed “Mine!” as his seed spurted from him and onto Fianna’s stomach and chest, since he had opened the buttons of her shirt to attack her breasts before their interruption. He sucked in deep breaths as he came down from his orgasm, his eyes going to Fianna, who seemed slightly startled by the sheer volume on her stomach, a small amount having hit her chin. He watched in a feral manner as she took her thumb and rubbed it over her chin before curiously placing it in her mouth. Smirking, he looked at Jeremy again, seeing her act as a subliminal declaration of her allegiance to him. “Out,” he repeated angrily. 

“You are wanted, both of you.” Was all Jeremy stated before he left, sporting a tented pants as he did. 

“You need to be careful of him.” Robert looked down at Fianna, confused by her words as he had been thinking the same for her. “I don’t trust him.” She toyed with his hair as she spoke.

“I don’t think we can trust any of them,” Robert added. “But you trust me, don’t you?” She nodded causing him to kiss her again, leaning his body against hers. 

For a moment, Fianna’s hands slid to his ass, but when he pressed his crotch against her, she froze before pushing him away. Startled by her fearful actions, Robert watched as she rose to her feet, cleaning her chest as best she could and tidied herself. “We don’t want to keep them waiting. If we stop being worth something to them alive, we very much become a commodity to them dead.” 

Though he wanted to figure out what caused her to startle, the harsh reality of her words forced Laing to acknowledge their truth and he rose to his feet and readied himself for whatever was asked of them. 

*

“We had two attempts of a break-in last night,” Frank informed the gathered crowd, murmurs of fear rose. “We have one dead and one missing, but they never made it past the lobby.” Relief seemed to become the predominant feeling at that. “We need extra posts to be in the lobby and lower floors for safety at night until we find out who did this and stop them. Teams will be made up of groups of five and no one is allowed swap groups without informing myself or Jeremy, am I understood?” There were calls of agreement. “Good. The teams are decided on strengths and weaknesses so to ensure the capability of every team to look after itself. The only ones that are exempt are the ones not passed by Dr Laing healthwise or who are otherwise indisposed.” A few people looked at Robert, who was not aware of such a statement being made in advance and him being given such a role. He looked at Frank in confusion. “We need to only allow the stronger to defend us, a weaker person is more of a hindrance than a help and we do not need to have a team be weakened by a member being unfit for duty.”

“What of the children?” One woman asked. Her pale and sickly child in her arms. 

“We will have one unit remain here, and of course, nursing mothers are exempt until such time as they are able to be utilised in other manners. We will have a few of those that are not strong enough for active patrols remain to tend to the young.” Gillian explained. There was a consensus of agreement to that statement and people listened for more. 

“No hunting parties can take place until such time as we are certain that it is safe to do so. And no one is to leave this tower without explicit permission to do so from me directly. Any found doing so...well, those sorts of people are worth more dead than alive.” If the subject matter and the not even remotely veiled threat were not enough to make Fianna and Robert think twice of planning to leave, the fact that Frank looked both of them in the eye for the last part of his sentence very much did.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With food running low, Fianna is not able to remain silent on the issue.

It soon became an issue for Robert and Fianna regarding food. The dog only lasted two days before the warm weather caused the meat to become rancid, leaving them with nothing else to eat outside of that of which they did not wish to eat. Fianna looked at one of the women as she knawed on a rib. Frankly, she was grateful that such scenes caused her appetite to dissipate as it meant she was less concerned about eating than she should be. However, by the end of the third day without food, she and Robert were feeling hungry even with the less than appealing and appetising meals they were witnessing around them.

“You will have to eat,” Jeremy urged her as Fianna swallowed and sat staring at the doorway in front of her, her blade in her hand, hoping nothing came to get them. “You are no use if you are weakened by hunger.”

“I'm not doing it.”

“You say that as though there was something wrong with this. We are only doing what we need to do to survive,” He growled defensively.

“I know.”

“Yet you frown at it.”

“I have never once frowned at it, I simply do not wish to partake in it.”

“But there is no other food.” He pointed out. 

“There is, out there.” Fianna pointed to the door as she spoke. “Just give me a few hours and my knife and I would have what Robert and I need.”

“No one is allowed out. Frank’s rules and you do not want to disobey them.”

“I haven't even tried, have I? If I left, even if I did not return, I suspect Robert would suffer in my stead.”

“You care a lot for him.” 

“We are in this together, we have been for some time,” She replied diplomatically. 

“So, you were not together when this started?”

“No.”

“So, what caused your little alliance?”

“Toby.”

“Who?”

“A boy, his name is Toby, we were both caring for him, that is how we got to know one another and it escalated from there,” She replied, noting when David, one of the other men that was patrolling with them sat down to hear more of the story. 

“Where is he now, this kid?”

“I don’t know. He was in the tower, but…”

“Pity,” David growled, “It’s always bad for the kids.” 

Fianna said nothing more on the matter. She simply sat looking at the door, waiting for the night to end and to be allowed back to Robert, who she felt anxious without. She knew Jeremy was doing everything he could to be around her, eyeing her like a dog would a meaty bone. She knew what he wanted and she did not want that. She did not want it at all, but if it came to pass, Robert was who she trusted most, but as she felt her body cramp slightly, telling her that she was after surviving another month in this world without risking herself and her safety, she reminded herself why it was imperative to sate Robert without giving into feral wants. 

“So, in this other tower, what happened?” David asked, curious to know what had been the situation there. 

“It was just odd at first, the lower floors were the normal people, the higher, the wealthier. There were a few issues with the building, shoots blocking up, electricity going and coming, so those higher up wanted the architect, Royal, who lived on the top floor, to keep it all for them, so it became a sort of battleground, men started killing each other. They raped the women, as well as just this odd sort of orgy sort of atmosphere, I have no idea who was consenting or not in the end. Royal, the architect, his wife was terribly abused in the supermarket one day, about an hour later, she and her sister were begging men to fuck them in the ass apparently, it just made no sense.” Her face scrunched up for a moment as she showed her bewilderment at it all. “Then there was the issue with food, the supermarket began to go dry, even the dog food was gone, and with it, the killing increased, I saw one man get killed for mouldy cat food, it had mould on it, you could see the green and Ramsey caved in the side of his head for it, Rogers I think was his name.” She shook her head. “Whoever survived locked themselves into their homes, I don’t know if they were even alive in there any more, I doubt it. Then there were the raiders, youths, like the ones that were outside the night you found us, they came in, ransacking the place even more…”

The men and women manning the entrance with her listened, not certain of what to say. 

“I thought at first it was just us, that we had gone mad, the tower had made us so, now…”

“The last thing anyone can do is make sense of it all, so don’t try to, you’ll only give yourself a headache.” Margery, the woman that had been eating the rib suggested. “We just get on with it.” 

 

Fianna did not speak again, she wanted to just get through the shift and get back upstairs without mentioning too much more of the other tower, not wanting to risk Toby and the women and children. No sooner did the evening change of guard arrive when she rushed to the stairwell and back up through the building. She made her way to the top floor and looked around. Robert was dealing with people who were ill, his eyes flicking towards the door and relief filling his features as he saw her looking back at him. Immediately, she rushed over, sitting close by as she watched him work. It was children mostly, their bones bending slightly as rickets set in from lack of nutrients. Robert had explained to the parents that whilst a full stomach at the end of the day was a good thing for the children to prevent starvation, the food source was lacking the majority of what their omnivorous bodies needed. He sighed as the next person came to him and sat down, their child coughing terribly as they did so. It was the same matters over and over, lack of dietary needs resulting in illness an there was nothing he could do bar repeat himself on the matter. 

Weakened by lack of any food on his own behalf, the consultations took longer than expected, when at last, Frank had called the evening to a close, he leant back and groaned. That was when Fianna went to him and rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. “We need to eat.”

“I will if you will.”

Robert scoffed slightly. He knew that she was not admitting to wanting to eat the “food” on offer. “How was patrol?”

“Nonsense. I am just looking at the door, I st staring at a cat, unable to hunt it,” Fianna growled, trying to alleviate the tension in his shoulder. 

“We will have to get something soon,” He repeated, not able to even rise from his position.

Concerned, Fianna walked over to Gillian, who was sitting with some of the other women. “I need to go hunting.”

“You need to stay here.”

“Here I will starve, Robert and I will starve.”

“There is plenty of food, you just need to eat it.” Frank entered the conversation, having heard Fianna’s words. 

“There is little of that left also, regardless of if I were to be willing to eat it. There needs to be a hunt.” Fianna looked him in the eye as she spoke, her determination clear. 

Frank chuckled. “You have more spunk than most women, I’ll give you that, but I make the rules, and we are not going out. Either accept that or there will be no need for you to worry about what you are eating and our shortage is dealt with.” 

Fianna stepped forward. “We need to get some more food.” She reiterated. “I didn’t survive this bullshit so far to starve here. None of us have. You have had to make some terrible calls, you have had to kill people, lose people, eat people, to get this far and we cannot allow whoever is attacking here to siege us inside because we have nothing left and those who are sick will get sicker and die if we stay and they will not be fit for you to eat and that leaves us worse off.”

Frank’s nostrils flared at her words. “So, what do you suggest then, with all of your arguments?”

“A day raid, those who attack here, do so at night. A party of the strongest of who’s here. You get your food, allow me to hunt mine and we come back before dusk and eat and be merry.” She suggested. 

Those gathered looked to Frank hopefully. They needed more food and there was a few getting annoyed in hunger at his dictating that none could leave and he knew it, but he also knew that to allow another dictate to him was a danger to his role as the leader of the group, especially a newcomer. “I will consider all options.” He declared before walking off. 

Robert, seeing the anger in the other man’s eyes, forced himself to his feet and ushered Fianna back to their room. “What are you doing? You know what they do,” He hissed. 

“I rather die and be eaten than waste away of hunger.” 

“And what of me?” Robert demanded in exasperation. “You would leave me here, without you? You think I could watch them cook you, eat you? It’s not just about you, there are two of us in this, Fianna. We are together.”

Fianna looked at him silently for a moment, thinking over his words. “I was thinking of us, we need to eat and that was what I was trying to deal with. They will not listen to reason, they are so scared of losing someone useful they are risking their lives but the harsh reality is, there are hoping we will just accept it and decide to eat other people as though trying to convince us to eat a new fruit. We are going to die if we don’t eat.”

Robert sighed and pulled her to him, kissing her head as she pressed in against him. “I know you are trying to help us but these people will not take your strength as the asset it is but as a challenge to them.”

“Robert?” He looked down at her and waited for her to speak again but she said nothing, merely staying close to him. 

*

“She is too assertive,” Gillian commented to Frank, who was pacing. “She will cause issues if she continues like this.”

“She is right though, food is scarce at the moment. And so what if they want to eat some cats, that’s smaller than our food and leaves more for us?” Jeremy pushed. 

“You would say that. She is not interested in you, you are aware of that?” Gillian retorted. “She is only interested in him, and he is taken with her, so we are in a situation with them.”

“We need him, he’s the closest we have to a doctor.” Frank snapped. 

“I thought he was a doctor?” Gillian frowned. 

“Academically, yes, he worked some private clinic bullshit, it doesn’t matter, he can do what we need, her on the other hand…” 

“He won’t comply without her.”

“She has her uses in other manners though, she is formidable enough.” 

“She will toe the line or she will hang, those are her options.” Frank declared, silencing them both.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunger is not Fianna's only concern.

Fianna had the appearance of a rabid animal as she all but chewed the bone of the food in front of her. For four hours, she watched as her meat had cooked with an agonisingly slow pace. 

A hunt had been sent out, as she suggested but as punishment for her insolence, she had not been permitted on it. Instead, it was the fact that one of those who had gone had spotted a senile dog limping up to them, clearly in pain and they had the humanity to put it out of its misery, whilst acknowledging the only reason they had a hunt part at all was because of Fianna’s fighting spirit to demand one and with Robert assisting them with their ailments, they repaid their gratitude as best they could with something that would mean no issue to themselves, a meal of Fianna and Roberts liking. 

That led to the situation they were now in, a starving Fianna all but able to feel the energy returning to her muscles as she wolfed down her meal. 

She was highly irritable as a result of four days without so much as a morsel but her moods also hid a more pressing and concerning issue for her. She had used them to keep anyone paying too much heed to her as she sharpened weapons between her patrols as a form of a chore and as she did stitchings for Robert, who believed her technique to be better than his own. She also used her aggressiveness to have him keep back slightly. With the cramping in her stomach no longer as a result of a lack of food, she was forced to endure the other less easily remedied manner in which her stomach clenched aggressively. 

The greatest issue she faced was the lack of materials to prevent her blood from staining her already filthy clothes. It was hard enough to bear smelling of sweat and because of Robert’s incessant attempts of amourous behaviours, his fluids, as well as some of her own, the addition of old menstrual blood would simply be one too many and if there was one thing living with large vats of old blood in the nearby vicinity taught her, it was that it was not a pleasant stench when she had to be near it, actively adding it to her own odour would only be a negative in every manner, as far as she was concerned. So, with difficulty, she procured rags every day to change as required. Dumping them was an easy enough affair, no one noticed some bloody rags in the vicinity of the meat preparation area. Her luck was made better when she found where they kept the unusable clothes of some of their victims, dead people seldom had need for clothes and some were too tattered to be reused, leaving her with a supply. Thinking ahead, she cut as many as she could and hid them under her side of the makeshift bed. 

There was little issue for the better part of the few days of her cycle, her dealing with Robert in other manners, including an eager use of her mouth he was more than happy to receive meant he was not aware of her predicament either. She almost made it through the situation without any note, until he noted a scrap of a rag in her hand after she was finished relieving herself in their bathroom. 

“What is that?” He shot out of their bed and over to her. 

“Nothing.”

Robert did not accept the answer and moved her hands so that she was forced to show him. “Blood? You’re bleeding? What…?” He studied it more, in particular, the deep almost brownish hue of it as well as other factors. For a moment, he looked at it before looking to Fianna, “You’re still menstruating?”

“Yes.” There was no point in lying to a doctor regarding the situation.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because it is no one’s concern but my own,” She growled, walking away from him. 

“How are you…?”

“I have no idea, but it is something of an inconvenience for the obvious reasons.” She looked at the rag, not wanting to have to talk about it. “I can’t even wash myself. Why has it not rained in ages? It’s London, England has loads of rain, why not now?”

“I don’t know.” In all of how the world had changed, that had not been something that Robert had even registered, the weather had been incredibly hot, that he had noticed but not the lack of rain. “So, is that why you do not wish to do more?”

“More?”

“To fuck, is that why you do not want to fuck?” He expanded.

“Well, as if all of this wasn’t hard enough, I am not overly fond of the idea of carrying around and birthing a baby without so much as a painkiller,” She growled. 

Robert paused and contemplated her words. In his revelation that she menstruated, he had forgotten the main cause of the issue, the body’s preparation for pregnancy. “No, no of course not.”

“It’s been the most terrifying thing. Fearing every interaction with a man, because I cannot stop it if it happens. If someone were to….” 

Robert rushed to her and wrapped his arms around her. “I will kill anyone who would do such a thing. You are mine, Fianna, no other man will touch you.” 

Fianna said nothing, she merely hoped that being Robert's did not end up with the same end result. 

*

“I have dealt with everyone that required dealing with,” Robert informed Frank after a day of more of the same issues, malnutrition and such. 

The head male looked at him as though expecting further comment. “And?”

“Can I join Fianna on a patrol?”

 

“She is needed there, you are needed here,” Frank stated plainly. 

“But no one needs me right now,” Robert pointed out. 

“Not at present but they will again in the future and the last thing we need is you being injured or worse. No, you are forbidden from patrols. That is that.” Frank declared. 

Robert swallowed, he wanted to argue but knew better. He was not stupid, he knew Fianna was already in Frank’s bad books and to add to it would be detrimental to their wellbeing. They were lucky there had been a sickly animal for them the last hunt that someone was kind enough to give them, that would not always be the case and they would need more food, meaning they needed to get back in his good graces to allow Fianna to be allowed on a hunt in anything looking like the near future. He simply said nothing more and stepped back, instead going to a corner to wait for her return.

Since Fianna’s revelation regarding her body’s belief that she could still carry offspring, should the conditions of which were met, he became even more obsessive and possessive of the woman. She could be tainted by other men in even more ways now, and though the logical side of his mind, that tiny recess to the very back of it knew that were she to be pregnant, the child would not have the sustenance for healthy in utero development and it would render her to the status of invalid for a considerable length of time, the predominant illogical part of his mind, the part that screamed that she was his, that part enveloped the thought, and possessively felt that should there be risk of a child, it could only be his, as she was.


	16. Thank you and Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a quick authors note

Just a quick comment to tell people that I am done with writing for the foreseeable future. I have no idea why people who for so long, were contributors to the comment section have ceased, I can only assume I have become boring or in some manner offended people that I am not aware of, so I am done with writing, the response (especially the lack there of) on my fics is enough to tell me all I need to know. 

To those who have commented, thank you, comments are what feed a writer, I have some of my favourite ones saved as they are incredibly precious to me. To those that have ceased commenting that were doing so for so long, so avidly doing so, I am sorry I clearly failed you somehow. 

Thank you for the good times.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know in the movie, Charlotte suffers horrifically at the hands of Wilder, I do, but this particular story needs to to be this character...  
> Plus she rubbed me up wrong, I won't deny it. I didn't like her, hence picking her, but the plot requires a lamb for this particular sacrifice.


End file.
